S'6 


REESE    LIBRARY 

ran 

UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

.':•{',/. 

2  /f^o  She// 


EIGHTY   YEARS 


REPUBLICAN    GOVERNMENT 


THE   UNITED  STATES. 


EIQPITY 


OP 


REPUBLICAN  GOVERNMENT 


IN 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


BT  LOUIS  J.  JENNINGS. 


FIB8T    AMERICAN    FROM    THE    SECOND    LONDON    EDITION 


UNIVERSITY) 


NEW   YO 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER    &    CO., 

1  868. 

Published  by  arrangement  witii  the  Author. 


PREFACE. 


THE  object  of  the  following  pages  is  to  explain  the 
original  plan  and  design  of  the  American  Constitu 
tion,  to  review  the  changes  which  have  been  made  in 
it  in  subsequent  times,  and  to  describe  its  present 
condition  and  mode  of  working. 

To  fulfil  these  ends  the  author  has  examined 
with  care  the  writings  and  speeches  of  the  eminent 
men  who  framed  the  great  fundamental  law  of  the 
United  States.  In  their  declared  opinions,  and  in 
the  debates  which  took  place  in  the  State  Con 
ventions  upon  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution, 
can  alone  be  found  a  true  embodiment  of  the  aims 
and  ideas  of  the  community  which  established  the 
Republic.  In  the  author's  attempt  to  portray  the 
government  as  it  is,  he  has  pursued  a  similar  method 
of  investigation ; — that  is,  he  has  founded  his  state 
ments  and  based  his  conclusions  upon  authority 
which  ought  to  be  accepted  in  England,  because 
no  one  challenges  it  in  America.  For  two  years 
past  —  probably  the  most  important  two  years  in 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  history  of  the  United  States  government,  if 
we  consider  all  the  changes  they  have  brought  to 
pass — the  author's  daily  duties  called  him  into  close 
intercourse  with  many  of  the  most  active  public 
men  of  the  country.  He  had  great  opportunities 
afforded  him  for  acquiring  the  information  he  sought, 
for,  although  it  is  often  said  that  Americans  will  never 
willingly  expose  themselves  to  criticism,  the  writer  of 
these  pages  never  detected  any  evidence  of  that  dis 
position.  The  Americans  do  not  take  offence  at  a 
candid  and  fair  discussion  of  the  government  under 
which  they  live.  They  are  not  well  pleased  to  be 
caricatured;  but  they  are  not  the  only  people  in 
the  world  who  object  to  be  represented  abroad  by 
travesties  of  their  political  and  social  life. 

In  the  work  here-  placed  before  the  reader  the 
author  has  occupied  himself  with  facts,  and  his 
authorities  may  be  found  cited  at  the  foot  of  the 
page.  He  has  had  no  favourite  theory  which  he 
wished  to  enforce  by  the  example  of  America. 
He  has  simply  endeavoured  to  ascertain  what  the 
government  of  the  United  States  was  intended  to 
be,  and  how  far  it  has  departed  from  the  first  design. 
He  has  not  desired  to  prove  that  Democracy  or 
Republicanism  must  necessarily  be  a  success,  or 
necessarily  a  failure,  or  that  it  is  better  or  worse 


PREFACE.  Til 

than  other  systems  of  government,  or  that  it  is 
anything  more  than  a  form  of  polity  still  open  to 
diligent  study  and  investigation.  Apart  from  and 
theories  whatever,  he  has  traced  the  results  of 
eighty  years  of  Kepublican  Government;  and  if  it 
can  be  proved  that  he  is  in  error  upon  any  question 
here  discussed,  his  regret  will  be  lessened  by  the 
knowledge  that  he  errs  in  company  with  some  of 
the  greatest  Americans  that  have  adorned  the 
public  life  or  literature  of  their  country. 


LONDON,  November,  1867. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   L 

MM 

THE  THEOBT  OF  THE  GOVEBNMENT 1 


CHAPTER   II. 
THE  STATE  AND  THE  UNION 19 

CHAPTER    III. 
THE  EXECUTIVE 35 

CHAPTER   IV. 
THE  CABINET       59 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE  LEGISLATIVE  69 


CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  JUDICTABY    .. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK    VII. 

MM 

UNIVERSAL  SUFFRAGE 109 


CHAPTER    VIIL 
PARTY  GOVERNMENT 142 

CHAPTER    IX. 
THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  RELIGION     177 

CHAPTER   X, 
POPULAB  EDUCATION » 207 

CHAPTER   XL 

CAPITAL  AND  LABOUR — EELATIONB  BETWEEN  EMPLOYES 
AND  EMPLOYED      289 

CHAPTER    XII. 
PROSPECTS  OF  THE  UNION        ..     ..     ..    312 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


ADMISSIONS  of  politicians,  173. 

Advocacy  of  sectional  differences  in  Congress,  87. 

America  and  the  English  working  classes,  287. 

American  ideas  of  representation,  75. 

American  Prayer-book,  197. 

American's  (the)  belief  in  the  future,  251. 

Americans  no  lovers  of  democracy,  129. 

Bitterness  of  party  warfare,  159. 
Bribery  and  corruption,  123. 

Cabinet,  the,  59-68. 
Cabinet  meetings,  67. 

Capital  and  Labour  —  Kelations  between  Employer  and  Em 
ployed,  230-241. 
Caucus,  the,  used  as  a  gag,  167. 
Central  power,  the,  27. 
Change  a  law  of  the  people,  9.  , 

Claims  of  Americans/  3. 

Claims  of  the  voluntary  system  in  religion,  199. 
Class  contentions  in  America,  231. 
Composition  of  the  Cabinet,  61. 
Compulsory  education,  211. 
Conferences  between  Churches,  183. 
Congressional  debates,  147. 
Congressional  majority  supreme,  105. 
Congressional  power  without  a  limit,  79. 
Congressional  struggle  for  mastery,  43. 
Conservatism  of  American  opinion,  285. 
Constitutional  functions  of  Congress,  78- 


Zil         ALPHABETICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Corruption  of  the  legislators,  171. 

Curtailment  of  prerogatives  of  the  Executive,  5L 

Dangers  before  America,  237. 

Decline  of  the  Executive  office,  55. 

Defects  of  the  plan  of  popular  education,  219. 

Degradation  of  popular  literature,  253. 

Degradation  of  the  franchise,  121. 

Denominational  schools,  227. 

De  Tocqueville's  admissions,  155. 

De  Tocqueville's  errors,  263-266. 

De  Tocqueville's  statements,  261. 

Devices  for  stifling  debate,  151. 

Difference  of  suffrage  between  England  and  America,  137 

Direct  power  of  the  people,  5.' 

Doubtful  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  23. 

Early  apprehensions  for  the  Union,  243. 

Education  indispensable  in  democracies,  225. 

Education  in  Massachusetts,  209. 

Effects  of  the  compulsory  system  of  education,  215. 

Elasticity  of  the  people,  283. 

Electing  preachers,  205. 

England  and  America,  257. 

England's  duty  with  regard  to  popular  education,  229. 

Episcopal  Church,  the,  201. 

Equal  suffrage  not  equal  representation,  131. 

Estrangement  of  the  South,  247. 

Executive,  the,  35-57. 

Fabrication  or  purchase  of  votes,  125. 

Failure  of  representation,  81. 

Failure  of  the  representative  system,  139. 

Federal  Judiciary,  the,  95. 

"  Filibustering  "  in  Congress,  153. 

Formation  and  division  of  the  Legislative,  71. 

Forms  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  145. 

Fruits  of  the  educational  system,  217. 

Futility  of  checks  and  balances,  77. 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE  OP  CONTENT8. 

General  effect  of  party  misrule,  175. 
Gloomy  predictions  of  Americans,  246. 

Hamilton's  delusions,  161. 
Helplessness  of  the  Judiciary,  101 
Hopes  of  the  people,  241. 

Ill  feeling  against  England,  259. 
Increase  of  Nonconformist  sects,  189. 
Influence  of  French  ideas,  255. 
Inherent  weakness  of  the  Executive,  39. 
Innovations  of  Congress  in  the  Judiciary,  97. 
Insufficient  payment  of  the  clergy,  195. 
Intolerance  of  free  discussion,  165. 

Judiciary,  the,  89-108. 
Justice  Story's  predictions,  107. 

Legislative,  the,  69-88. 
Lesson  of  secession,  269. 
Licence  allowed  to  speakers,  149. 

Maintenance  of  churches,  193. 
Management  of  the  debt,  279. 
Mischiefs  of  protection,  281. 
Misrepresentations  of  critics,  7. 
Mode  of  electing  the  President,  57. 
Modern  changes,  17. 

National  ideal,  249. 
Necessity  of  a  free  Judiciary,  99. 
New  era  in  the  government,  267. 
Nomination  of  Members  of  Congress,  119. 

Outrages  of  workmen,  239. 

Party  control  over  the  judges,  103. 
Party  despotism,  143. 
Party  government,  142-176. 


riv  ALPHABETICAL   TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

Persecution  in  Massachusetts,  181. 

Persecutions  of  Quakers,  185. 

Plan  of  electing  judges,  91. 

Plan  of  the  elective  system,  113. 

Political  capacities  of  Americans,  11. 

Politics  and  the  Pulpit,  203. 

Political  ostracism  of  able  men,  169. 

Popular  education,  207-229. 

Popular  education  an  experimental  work,  223. 

Power  of  amendment,  33. 

Popularity  of  the  government,  13. 

Power  of  the  Cabinet,  65. 

Power  of  the  legislature,  45. 

Present  laws  concerning  religion,  191. 

President  elected  by  popular  vote,  117. 

President,  the,  and  his  ministers,  63. 

President  Jackson's  warning,  271. 

President  Johnson's  errors,  41. 

President  Lincoln's  tact,  163. 

Presidential  patronage,  47. 

Pretentiousness  of  the  system  of  popular  education,  221. 

Prison  for  truants,  213. 

Prospects  of  the  Union,  242-288. 

Protective  fallacies,  233. 

Protests  of  Constitutionalists,  275. 

Qualifications  of  electors,  111. 

Republicanism  idealised,  15. 
Repudiation  and  the  debt,  277. 
Revolutions  in  the  Constitution,  273. 

Sectional  differences,  21. 

State,  the,  and  the  Union,  19-34. 

State  independence  a  national  security,  29. 

State  rights,  25. 

State  support  of  the  Church,  179. 

State  support  withdrawn,  187. 


ALPHABETICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.          XV 

Strikes  and  discontent,  235. 
Subordination  of  the  President  to  Congress,  58. 
Subserviency  of  Members  of  the  Legislative,  85. 
Suppression  of  independent  opinion  in  the  Legislative,  83. 

Theory  of  electing  the  President,  115. 
Theory,  the,  of  the  Government,  1-18. 
Tyranny  of  the  majority,  157. 
Tyranny  of  numbers,  127. 

Universal  Suffrage,  109-141. 

Universal  suffrage  condemned  by  American  writers,  14L 
Use  of  Presidential  patronage  by  Mr.  Johnson,  49. 
Uselessness  of  the  State  Convention,  31. 

Various  laws  in  States,  93. 

Voluntary  principle  in  religion,  177-206. 

Washington's  anxiety  for  the  Executive,  37. 
Webster's  theories,  135. 
Women  and  boys  as  voters,  133. 


EIGHTY  YEARS 


OF 


REPUBLICAN  GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  THEORY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

THE  political  system  of  the  United  States  is  based 
upon  the  theory  that  the  people  have  an  indefeasible 
right  to  choose  their  own  form  of  government,  and  to 
modify  or  change  it  whenever  a  sufficiently  large 
proportion  agree  that  change  is  necessary.  They 
endured  all  the  hardships  and  losses  incidental  to  a 
revolution  in  order  to  rid  themselves  of  monarchical 
government  and  a  hereditary  ruler ;  any  rule  claim 
ing  to  bear  prescriptive  rights  they  were  determined 
never  to  have  again.  They  resolved  to  govern  for 
themselves.  A  qualified  share  of  political  power  is 
committed  to  the  people  in  constitutional  Europe 
avowedly  as  a  trust ;  in  the  American  Republic  the 
supreme  power  is  exercised  by  the  people  as  a  right. 
The  original  Constitution  was  an  instrument  prepared 
with  the  object  of  carrying  into  effect  the  wishes  and 

B 


2  THE    THEORY    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  I. 

opinions  of  a  community  of  thirteen  States,  and  it 
remains  in  force  only  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
nation  which  has  since  risen  up.  The  Constitution 
itself  recommitted  the  power  which  it  assumed  back 
to  the  people,  its  original  depositaries,  when  it  pre 
scribed  the  means  by  which  amendments  could  in 
after  times  be  made.  The  voice  of  the  people  is  the 
supreme  law.  They  elect  their  agents  and  repre 
sentatives  ;  and  while  each  of  these  agents  may  be 
held  to  a  strict  account  for  his  actions,  while  the 
most  solemn  proceedings  of  the  Legislative  may  be 
annulled  by  the  Judiciary,1  and  the  Executive  be 
controlled  by  the  Legislative,  the  acts  of  the  people 
alone  are  above  all  judgment  or  review.  They  are 
not  restrained  by  precedents ;  in  a  government 
depending  upon  popular  will  there  can  be  no  law 
of  precedent.  The  people  create  a  precedent  or 
destroy  one  as  circumstances  seem  to  require.  "  No 
man,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "  makes  a  question  that  the 
people  are  the  source  of  all  political  power.  Govern 
ment  is  constituted  for  their  good,  and  its  members 
are  their  ministers  and  servants.  He  who  would 
argue  against  this  must  argue  without  an  adversary. 
The  aggregate  community,  the  collected  will  of  the 
people,  is  sos'ereign."2  Be  the  faults  or  errors  of 
the  government  what  they  may,  the  people  alone  are 


1  This  is  the  theory  of  the  Constitution.  Whether  the  Judiciary 
could  sustain  its  decision  or  not,  is  another  question. 

-  Argument  in  the  Rhode  Island  case,  27th  Jan.  1848.  Webster's 
Works,  vol.  vi.,  p.  221. 


CHAF.  I.  THE   CLAIMS   OF    AMERICANS.  3 

responsible  for  their  existence.  The  idle,  the  im 
provident,  the  unsuccessful  cannot,  as  is  too  readily 
done  in  other  countries,  cast  the  blame  of  their  mis 
fortunes  or  sufferings  upon  the  government.  Everett, 
who  represented  New  England  opinion  more  accu 
rately  than  any  other  one  man,  congratulated  his 
countrymen  upon  the  perfection  of  their  government 
as  exhibited  in  the  fact  that  "  no  measure  of  policy, 
public  or  private,  domestic  or  foreign,  could  long  be 
pursued  against  the  will  of  a  majority  of  the  people." 
The  system  is  one  which  professes  to  guard  with 
more  than  paternal  care  the  welfare  and  interests  of 
every  class  of  the  community.  It  lays  claim  to  the 
credit  of  giving  more  liberty  and  diffusing  greater 
happiness  than  any  other  form  of  government,  and 
the  mass  of  the  people  fully  believe  that  it  claims  no 
more  than  it  is  entitled  to.  A  contemporary  Ameri 
can  writer  boasts  that  in  the  United  States  the  best 
hopes  of  man  may  find  their  accomplishment ;  that 
there  is  neither  failure  nor  disappointment  in  the 
government ;  that  under  it  a  perfect  commonwealth 
might  become  a  reality.3  If  there  had  not  been  a 
large  majority  who  felt  this  to  be  the  truth,  the  Union 
would  have  perished  long  ago.  What,  then,  are  the 
principles  of  this  "  perfect  commonwealth  ?  "  Is  it 
true  that  owing  to  its  superior  wisdom  the  masses  of 
the  people  are  better  represented  and  protected  than 
they  are  anywhere  else  in  the  world  ?  Is  it  indeed 


*  'North  Amcricaii  Review,'  Oct  1865,  art.  VIII. 

B   2 


4  THE    THEORY    OF   THE    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  I 

a  government  fit  to  stand  as  an  everlasting  model  for 
the  guidance  of  mankind  ?  If  it  be  this,  it  is  of  vital 
consequence  to  the  whole  human  race  that  its  merits 
should  be  rightly  understood  ;  and  if  there  be  defects 
in  it,  great  and  mischievous  defects,  the  same  con 
sideration  demands  that  they  should  be  openly  stated 
and  discussed. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is  divided 
into  three  departments — the  Executive,  the  Legisla 
tive,  and  the  Judiciary.  The  appointment  of  the 
Federal  Judicial  Officers  rests  with  the  President, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Senate ;  the  Senate 
is  chosen  by  the  local  Legislature  of  each  State, 
which  in  its  turn  is  elected  by  the  people ;  and  thus, 
although  the  people  are  the  primary  source  of  power, 
they  have  only  a  broken  and  indirect  influence  in 
the  selection  of  the  Judiciary.  In  most  of  the  States 
the  judges  are  elected  by  universal  suffrage,  but 
this  pernicious  custom  has  not  yet  extended  to  the 
organization  of  the  highest  legal  tribunal  of  the 
Republic. 

For  the  Executive  the  people  vote  through  the 
agency  of  electors  whom  they  choose  at  the  polls. 
For  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  they 
vote  without  the  intervention  of  other  agents.  In 
the  government  of  each  State  the  inhabitants  exer 
cise  control  which  is  not  broken  by  artificial  checks, 
or  conducted  through  side  channels,  as  is  the  case 
with  respect  to  the  higher  Federal  offices.  The 
laws  of  the  State  are  settled  by  the  local  Legisla- 


CHAP.  I.  DIRECT    POWER    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  5 

ture,  which  as  a  rule  meets  once  a  year,  and  the 
members  of  which  are  regularly  elected  by  popular 
vote.  Once  in  a  certain  term,  which  varies  in 
different  States,  the  people  have  the  opportunity  of 
calling  a  Convention  to  revise  the  State  laws,  and 
to  this  Convention  they  can  send  representatives 
who  will  carry  out  the  desired  reform.  The  frequency 
of  elections,  which  De  Tocqueville  considers  so  great 
an  evil,  is  nevertheless  a  material  part  of  the 
mechanism  of  government  in  America,  and  it  was 
greatly  relied  upon  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution 
as  one  great  source  of  stability  in  the  new  system. 
By  this  means  the  wishes  and  wants  of  the  people  are 
continually  being  made  known.  There  can  be  no 
hidden  grievances,  no  discontents  to  ferment  unseen 
and  imperil  the  Republic.  Once  in  every  two  years 
the  people  may  completely  change  the  popular 
branch  of  the  Legislature.  If  Congress  opposes  itself 
to  their  desires  and  opinions,  its  action  may  be  checked 
by  the  judgment  of  the  people  before  its  term  has 
expired.4  The  President  holds  office  for  four  years, 
but  he  is  not  beyond  the  reach  of  the  people  during 
that  period.  They  may  return  a  House  of  Represen 
tatives  which  is  adverse  to  him,  and  gradually  pursue 
the  same  course  with  the  Senate,  through  their  local 
Legislatures,  until  he  can  no  longer  use  his  veto 


4  Each  Congress  sits  for  three  sessions  (formerly  two),  which 
extend  over  two  years.  The  elections  for  the  ensuing  Congress  take 
place,  in  the  majority  of  States,  five  or  six  months  before  the  one 
actually  sitting  has  fulfilled  its  term. 


6  THE    THEORY    OP    THE    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  I. 

power  with  any  effect,  and  he  is  thus  rendered  sub 
ordinate  to  the  Legislative.  Years  may  pass  during 
which  the  nation  is  content  to  let  its  affairs  be 
managed  by  its  rulers  as  they  may  see  fit ;  but  the 
moment  it  is  seriously  dissatisfied,  the  moment  its 
confidence  is  broken  or  a  danger  seems  to  menace 
the  country,  from  that  moment  it  can  begin  to  recall 
its  delegated  power,  and  practically  order  its  policy 
at  home  and  abroad.  It  is  only  a  qualified  trust 
which  the  people  yield  to  their  representatives. 
They  are  themselves  politicians  by  habit  and  custom. 
Every  other  year  they  are  called  upon  to  decide  what 
principles  they  wish  advanced,  and  which  men  they 
desire  to  advocate  them. 

Whether  a  government  of  this  nature  is  the  one 
above  all  others  most  advantageous  to  society  is  a 
question  open  to  much  dispute,  but  that  an  essential 
requisite  of  good  government  is  practicable  under  the 
system — namely,  that  it  shall  be  strong  and  efficient, 
and  capable  of  maintaining  its  place  among  nations — 
it  is  impossible  to  deny.  That  of  the  United  States 
passed  through  the  tremendous  assaults  made  upon 
it  in  the  civil  war  with  resolution  and  success 
which  could  not  have  been  excelled  had  it  been  in 
the  hands  of  a  small  and  privileged  class.  It  gained 
in  security  by  submitting  itself  wholly  to  the  guidance 
of  the  majority.  It  was  the  servant  of  the  people, 
and  the  people  came  forward  as  one  man  to  its  sup 
port.  They  prized  it,  and  by  their  instrumentality 
it  was  saved  from  destruction  when  a  section  of  the 


CHAP.  I.  MISREPRESENTATIONS    OP   CRITICS.  7 

country  became  dissatisfied,  and  sought  to  form  itself 
into  a  distinct  nation.  Burden  after  burden  was  laid 
upon  them,  sacrifice  after  sacrifice  demanded,  and 
instead  of  complaining  they  came  again  and  again, 
demanding  greater  burdens  and  offering  greater 
sacrifices,  and  continued  to  display  the  same  lavish 
spirit  long  after  the  war  was  over.  Popular  govern 
ment  saved  the  Union  in  1861,  and  the  government 
of  a  privileged  class  could  have  done  no  more. 

But  in  such  periods  as  these  we  behold  the  govern 
ment  in  its  most  attractive  aspect.  The  patriotism 
and  spirit  of  the  people  are  evoked,  a  power  unsus 
pected  even  by  themselves  is  made  manifest  to  the 
world,  and  in  the  splendour  and  renown  of  victory  all 
defects  and  shortcomings  are  overlooked.  We  see 
everything  through  a  false  and  exaggerated  medium. 
From  a  disbelief  in  the  country,  the  public  mind  goes 
over  with  unthinking  and  infatuated  eagerness  to  the 
worship  of  all  its  institutions.  Nothing,  it  is  argued, 
can  be  amiss  in  a  form  of  policy  which  survived  the 
shocks  of  1861-65,  and  came  out  of  the  trial  appa 
rently  strong  enough  to  pass  through  another  equally 
severe.  But  if  the  old  prejudices  against  the 
American  Union  were  mischievous  and  unreasonable, 
this  attachment  to  it  without  a  cause  is  likely  to 
produce  still  more  evil  consequences.  No  American 
of  eminence  has  ever  yet  denied  the  existence  of 
great  and  peculiar  failings  in  his  government.  That 
these  imperfections  should  now  be  questioned  or  lost 
sight  of  by  the  rest  of  the  world  is  greatly  owing  to 


8  THE    THEORY    OF    THE    GOYKltNMENT.  CHAP.  I. 

a  reaction  in  the  public  i'eeling  produced  by  the 
failure  of  the  prophecies  relative  to  the  fall  of  the 
Union.  Many  writers  have  predicted  the  inevitable 
collapse  of  American  democracy  directly  it  was 
opposed  to  its  first  searching  test,  reasoning  very 
often  upon  imaginary  parallels  in  the  history  of  other 
nations,  and  forgetting  that  the  experiment  is  being 
tried  in  the  United  States  under  circumstances  so 
exceptional  as  to  put  to  confusion  all  speculative  or 
philosophical  theories  upon  systems  of  government. 
The  exceedingly  favourable  conditions  under  which 
the  people  live,  although  habitually  acknowledged  in 
general  terms,  are  seldom  properly  appreciated.  It 
is  indeed  hard  to  realise  them  fully.  Setting  aside 
altogether  the  physical  advantages  enjoyed  by  the 
Americans,  due  consideration  has  not  been  given  to 
the  fact  that  in  the  majority  is  vested  the  power  to 
amend  the  government  whenever  it  falls  short  of 
their  necessities.  The  Constitution  by  which  a  small 
community  was  originally  governed,  and  which  suf 
ficed  for  that  period,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  an 
instrument  destined  to  place  a  limit  upon  thought, 
progress,  and  improvement.  It  is  not  a  band  of  iron 
which  is  to  hold  the  nation  in  a  fixed  position  for 
ever.  Not  the  Constitution,  but  the  popular  will,  is 
what  gives  government  its  powers  in  America.  A 
written  Constitution  cannot  retard  or  hinder  the 
growth  of  principles,  least  of  all  in  an  active  and  young 
community,  full  of  nervous  energy,  and  quickness, 
and  eager  life.  Where  the  people  create  the  govern- 


CHAP.  I.  CHANGE    A    LAW    OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

mont  they  will  be  above  the  government.  The 
American,  as  one  of  their  own  writers  justly  remarks, 
"  never  loses  sight  of  the  fact  that  government  is  only 
a  device  founded  on  expediency ;  and  he  keeps  in 
mind  that  it  possesses  no  intrinsic  right  to  exist,  and 
that  it  is  always  subject  to  the  arbitration  of  the 
popular  right  of  revolution." 5  f  A  government  which 
had  its  birth  in  revolution,  and  that  in  quite  recent 
times,  cannot  be  considered  master  of  the  people. 
They  will  not  look  upon  its  first  inception  as  a  Divine 
inspiration  with  which  it  would  be  sacrilege  to  meddle. 
It  must  expand  with  their  growth,  and  be  treated  as 
the  work  of  men  like  unto  themselves,  while  its  fun 
damental  principles,  so  far  as  they  are  consistent  with 
liberty  and  justice,  are  scrupulously  preserved^  But 
if  the  Constitution  is  to  retain  the  authority  ascribed 
to  it  by  all  American  jurists,  as  "  a  code  of  positive 
law," 6  binding  upon  all  persons  and  upon  all  depart 
ments  of  the  government,  it  should  be  altered  and 
amended  only  by  the  means  dictated  in  the  instru 
ment  itself.  If  one  part  of  the  nation,  having  tem 
porary  command  of  the  national  armies,  alters  and 
adapts  it  to  its  own  purposes  without  consulting  the 
other  part,  what  becomes  of  it  as  a  code  of  positive 
law?  It  then  changes  with  the  fortunes  of  every 
party,  perhaps  with  every  election.  The  form  of 
government  is,  in  truth,  of  little  importance  to 

6  •  North  American  Review,'  Oct.  1865. 

•  This  phrase  is  used  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Dana,  junr.,  in  his  very 
valuable  notes  to  '  Wheaton,'  p.  54. 


10          THE  THEOBY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.      CHAP.  L 

America  so  far  as  its  present  prosperity  is  concerned. 
Call  the  nominal  ruler  king,  emperor,  or  president, 
and  the  material  interests  of  the  people  must  still 
flourish  while  land  is  plentiful,  while  the  country  is 
covered  with  small  proprietors,  while  labour  is  scarce 
and  wages  high.  These  conditions  not  unnaturally 
sometimes  lead  the  people  themselves  to  attribute  to 
a  political  system  the  blessings  which  they  really  owe 
to  nature.  In  a  land  of  universal  prosperity  men  do 
not  find  fault  with  the  government  under  which  they 
live.  It  has  been  said  that  in  the  number  of  small 
landed  proprietors  consists  the  true  strength  of  a 
nation.  Undoubtedly  it  is  a  source  of  strength  to 
the  American  Union.  Abstract  arguments  against 
democracy  prove  nothing  against  the  American 
government,  because  it  is  a  democracy  existing  under 
conditions  which  would  make  any  method  of  govern 
ment  successful.  Democracy  there,  it  is  sometimes 
asserted,  must  fail  because  democracy  from  its  very 
nature  cannot  be  enduring,  and  it  is  also  assumed, 
and  so  far  as  we  can  at  present  judge  with  entire  truth, 
that  the  American  people  never  would  consent  to 
adopt  any  other  form  of  government.  Thus  the  phi- 
Ipsophers  end  by  leaving  the  Americams  without  a 
government  of  any  kind.  They  hand  them  over  to 
a  reign  of  anarchy.  It  is  true  that  .the  evidence  of 
facts  is  wholly  opposed  to  such  reasonings.  What  we 
find  in  the  United  States  is  that  the  people  possess  a 
government  which  they  have  the^  power  of  adapting 
to  their  ends,  although  not  in  the  manner  theore- 


CHAP.  1.  POLITICAL    CAPACITIES    OF    AMERICANS.  11 

tically  assigned,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  and  one 
with  which  the  majority  of  the  people  are  content, 
because  it  is  always  in  the  power  of  the  majority  to 
do  as  they  please  with  it.  Whether  the  Americans 
as  a  nation  will  always  remain  content  is  a  question 
concerning  which  very  grave  doubts  may  be  enter 
tained,  but  they  have  at  least  as  much  reason  on 
their  side  in  believing,  from  their  past  history,  that 
their  government  is  indestructible,  as  other  nations 
have  in  predicting  its  sudden  downfall.  There  will 
always  be  a  large,  probably  a  preponderating,  party 
ready  to  fight  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union. 

There  is  another  circumstance  which  in  the  United 
States  lessens  the  ordinary  risk  of  intrusting  the 
controlling  influence  in  the  government  to  the 
masses.  There  the  people  are  accustomed  to 
the  duties,  although  it  would  be  too  much  to  say 
that  they  are  always  mindful  of  the  responsibilities, 
of  government.  If  they  have  not  explored  all  the 
byeways  of  political  philosophy,  they  are  used  to 
the  practical  managem^kof  their  own  affairs.  They 
may  know  little  oi^^olitical  science,  but  they 
are  generally  shrewd  men  of  business.  Each  State 
makes  its  own  laws,  and  hence  it  is  that  the  laws 
of  all  the  States^^fer  in  material  respects.  The 
United  States  jj^Kme  Court  has  no  jurisdiction 
over  them,  exeeptwhen  they  involve  some  question 
or  privilege  the  treatment  of  which  is  definitively 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  Laws  relating  to 
property,  marriage,  education,  the  punishment  of 


12  THE    THEORY    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  CIIAK  1. 

crime,  the  preservation  of  social  order,  the  entire 
regulation  of  the  affairs  of  a  community,  are  made 
by  the  States  for  themselves,  with  the  one  qualifica 
tion  that  they  must  not  be  in  conflict  with  the 
Constitution.  And  who  are  the  law-makers  ?  The 
delegates  elected  by  the  people — and  they  are  no 
more  than  delegates.  They  constantly  consult  the 
sense  and  wishes  of  their  constituents ;  and  if  they 
frame  an  obnoxious  law,  another  set  of  representatives 
are  sent  to  the  State  Legislatures  the  following  year 
to  repeal  it.  It  might  almost  be  said  that  the 
people  are  every  day  of  their  lives  engaged  in 
practising  the  active  duties  of  government.  The 
Federal  Legislature  is  only  in  plan  the  State  Legis 
lature  on  a  larger  scale.  It  is  an  expansion  of  the 
local  principle  of  self-government. 

In  America,  then,  as  the  people  make  their 
government,  and  know  that  they  are  responsible 
for  it,  they  submit  willingly  to  its  decrees.  Lord 
Brougham  thought  it  a  special  merit  of  the  English 
government  that  it  could  IjM^taxes,  in  case  of  need, 
more  quietly  and  success fu^(fci an  any  other.  "  If 
it  be  said,"  he  continued,  "  that  the  American 
government  can  as  well  call  forth  the  resources  of 
the  people,  I  have  very  grave  doubt  if  the  national 
representatives,  and  especially  THFPresident  I  to  wards 
the  end  of  his  first  three  years,  wpuld  inflict  a  heavy 
excise  or  a  grinding  income-tax  upon  the  people,  as 
our  Parliament  has  so  often  done ;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  at  all  that  such  an  infliction  would  very 


CHAP.  I.  POPULARITY    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  18 

speedily  lead  to  a  termination  of  hostilities  without 
any  very  great  nicety  about  the  terms  of  peace."7 
The  signal  manner  in  which  this  confident  prediction 
has  been  .falsified  can  never  be  forgotten,  any  more 
than  the  prediction  itself  can  be  repeated.  Not  only 
did  the  American  people  submit  to  unparalleled 
income  and  excise  taxes,  and  every  other  kind  of  tax, 
during  the  civil  war,  but  they  afterwards  accepted 
these  enormous  imposts  quite  voluntarily,  paid  them 
almost  without  a  murmur  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other,  and  continue  to  pay  them  to 
this  hour.  Could  a-ny  people  do  more  for  their 
government  than  this  ?  And  why  do  the  Americans 
make  these  sacrifices?  Because  they  are  deeply, 
immoveably  attached  to  a  certain  national  ideal, 
which  some  believe  has  been  realized  already,  and 
others  hope  to  see  realized  in  the  future  ;  because 
they  feel  that  there  is  no  part  of  their  govern 
ment  in  which  they  have  not  an  influence  and  an 
interest;  because  they  believe  that  it  exists  for 
their  benefit  and  welfare,  and  that  when  it  ceases  to 
do  so  they  can  rapidly  amend  or  remo:lel  it. 

These  vital  reforms  are  expedient  and  justifiable 
as  often  as  they  are  necessary.  Washington,  in  his 
farewell  address,  emphatically  said  to  the  people, 
•'  the  basis  of  our  political  systems  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  make  and  to  alter  their  constitutions  of 
government."  Judge  Story  remarks  of  the  Constitu- 


Lord  Brougham  on  the  •  British  Constitution,'  chapter  xvii. 


14          THE  THEORY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.       CHAP.! 

tion  that  "  its  framers  were  not  bold  or  rash  enough 
to  believe  or  to  pronounce  it  to  be  perfect.  They 
made  use  of  the  best  lights  which  they  possessed  to 
form  and  adjust  its  parts  and  mould  its  materials. 
But  they  knew  that  time  might  develop  many 
defects  in  its  arrangements,  and  many  deficiencies  in 
its  powers.  They  desired  that  it  might  be  open  to 
improvement,  and,  under  the  guidance  of  the  sober 
judgment  and  enlightened  skill  of  the  country,  to  be 
perpetually  approaching  nearer  and  nearer  to  per 
fection."8  Upon  these  principles  the  American  people 
determined  that  the  country  should  be  governed 
after  the  great  rebellion.  There  were  not  wanting 
those  who  contended  that  the  Constitution  was  bind 
ing  upon  the  nation  for  ever,  and  could  neither  be 
abridged  nor  extended,  no  matter  what  perils  or 
difficulties  arose.  A  decision  of  five  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court9  in  the  case  of  a  man  named  Mil- 
ligan,  who  had  been  imprisoned  under  the  order  of  a 
military  commission,  and  who  petitioned  for  release, 
gave  authority  and  sanction  to  this  party.  The 
judges  went  so  far  as  to  say  of  the  Constitution  that 
"  no  doctrine  involving  more  pernicious  consequences 
was  ever  invented  by  the  wit  of  man  than  that  any 
of  its  provisions  can  be  suspended  during  any  of  the 
great  emergencies  of  the  government."  But  the 
Chief  Justice  and  three  other  judges  dissented  from 
this  opinion,  and  held  that  Congress,  in  times  of 

8  '  Commentaries,'  §  417  (3rd  edition,  Boston,  1858). 
»  Delivered  at  the  December  term,  1806. 


CHAP.  I.  REPUBLICANISM    IDEALISED.  15 

extraordinary  emergency,  had  the  right  to  put  in 
force  extraordinary  powers  for  the  preservation  of 
the  country.  And  common  sense  confirms  this  in 
terpretation  of  the  law.  If,  of  the  Union  or  the  Con 
stitution  .one  or  other  must  fall,  which  is  it  for 
the  interest  of  the  people  to  abandon  ?  Had  the 
Southern  States  conquered,  Union  and  Constitution 
would  both  have  perished.  The  Northern  people 
fought  to  save  both,  but  a  strict  adherence  to  the 
Constitution  was  found  during  the  struggle  to  be 
inconsistent  with  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and 
it  was  therefore  practically  disregarded.  At  first, 
indeed,  it  was  only  sought  to  alter  it  in  accordance 
with  the  terms  of  constitutional  law,  that  is  by  the 
consent  of  a  majority  of  three-fourths  of  all  the 
States;  but  since  the  Southern  States  would  not 
voluntarily  sign  away  their  liberty,  this  provision  was 
ignored,  and  the  decision  of  the  conquering  States 
\vas  held  to  be  alone  sufficient  to  recast  the  agree 
ment  of  1787. 

The  light  in  which  the  Americans  regard  their 
government  can  never  be  understood  unless  we  sup 
pose  it  to  have  a  double  existence — an  existence  in 
fact  and  an  existence  in  the  imagination  or  hopes 
of  the  people.  The  foreign  observer  describes  only 
what  he  sees;  the  American  invests  his  government 
with  certain  fictitious  qualities  which  he  knows  that 
it  ought  to  possess,  and  would  possess  if  the  ideas  of 
its  founders  were  truly  carried  out,  and  which  he 
retains  a  firm  belief  will  be  grafted  upon  it  by  the 


16          THE  THEORY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.       'HAP.! 

good  sense  of  his  posterity.  You  show  the  American 
the  errors  of  his  government  in  practice,  and  lie 
replies  by  drawing  a  vivid  picture  of  it  as  it  presents 
itself  to  his  fancy.  It  is  not  always  easy  in  an  inquiry 
upon  American  affairs  to  distinguish  between  the  real 
and  the  ideal.  If  the  wishes  of  those  who  made  the 
Constitution,  and  the  desires  of  the  educated  class, 
could  prevail,  there  would  be  a  perfect  government 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  American  will  some 
times  assert  that  such  a  privilege  does  belong  to  him. 
But  when  its  faults  and  its  errors  are  pointed  out  he 
at  once  changes  his  ground,  and  pleads  that  the 
country  is  new,  that  it  has  already  achieved  wonders 
in  a  short  time,  and  that  there  is  every  reason  to 
suppose  it  will  continue  to  improve  and  progress. 
These  arguments  are  entitled  to  the  utmost  attention 
and  respect,  but  if  the  admissions  which  they  contain 
were  more  carefully  borne  in  mind  there  would  be 
no  necessity  to  urge  them.  So  much  would  not 
be  looked  for  in  the  American  government,  because 
no  extravagant  pretensions  would  be  made  by  those 
who  undertake  to  defend  it  against  criticism.  But 
when  Americans  challenge  comparison  with  the  rest 
of  the  world,  it  is  only  a  proper  tribute  to  them  to 
examine  into  their  claims.  They  ought  to  wish  all 
their  fellow-creatures  the  enjoyment  of  the  same 
blessings  which  they  possess,  but  in  order  to  induce 
the  world  to  avail  itself  of  them  it  must  first  be 
taught  to  appreciate  the  boon.  ,This  cannot  be  done 
without  explanation  and  inquiry.  Foreign  criticisms 


CHAP.  1.  MODERN    CHANGES.  17 

may  often  be  full  of  fallacies,  but  these  fallacies  as 
frequently  give  the  American  system  praise  which  it 
does  not  deserve  as  they  detract  from  its  just  merits. 
The  favourite  ideal  of  the  Americans,  though  doubt 
less  exceedingly  noble  and  attractive  in  itself,  is 
probably  still  further  from  conveying  a  true  idea  of 
the  government  as  it  is.  What  that  ideal  is  we  shall 
have  an  opportunity  of  .ascertaining  in  a  subsequent 
chapter,  and  the  proof  will  be  given  from  American 
history  and  American  writers  that  it  differs  widely 
from  the  state  of  things  which  actually  exists. 
Nothing  was  more  essential  to  the  original  theory  of 
the  government  than  that  there  should  be  one  great 
law  by  which  all  questions  affecting  the  interests  of 
different  sections  of  the  country  should  be  judged 
and  decided,  and  yet  that  law  is  now  mainly  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Again,  what  was  so  much  sought  after 
by  the  early  statesmen,  or  what  was  so  precious  to  the 
people,  as  the  maintenance  of  State  independence? 
It  was  the  very  life-blood  of  the  system.  But  time 
and  events  have  transformed  the  government,  without 
bringing  it  any  nearer  to  the  ideal  of  the  people. 
Now,  as  immediately  after  the  war  of  independence, 
they  are  willing  to  sacrifice  almost  everything  for  the 
sake  of  securing  an  irresistible  power  at  some  central 
point.  Any  one  who  wishes  to  describe  the  working 
of  the  American  government  must  study,  not  the 
Constitution  of  1787,  but  the  records  of  parties, 
the  acts  of  the  Legislature,  the  events  of  the  last  five- 
and-twenty  years,  and  the  history  of  the  country  as 

c 


l8  THE   THEORY    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  I 

it  is  written  upon  the  statute-books.  The  Constitu 
tion  shows  what  the  government  was  intended  to 
be,  and  in  so  far  as  it  does  this  it  is  still  valuable. 
Contemporary  history  and  legislation  alone  show 
what  the  government  really  is.  The  Constitution 
has  not  been  expressly  abandoned,  for  the  homage 
of  the  lips  is  still  paid  to  it  But  it  has  been 
subjected  to  so  many  violent  changes  that  its  framers, 
could  they  see  it  once  more,  would  detect  but  few 
traces  of  their  work.  Yet  one  doctrine  of  the  former 
government  is  still  preserved — namely,  that  all  power 
belongs  to  the  people.  Before  that  doctrine  is  ac 
cepted  as  the  wisest  yet  discovered  in  the  science  of 
governing  mankind  it  would  be  well  to  see  what  is 
the  effect  of  its  practical  application  in  the  United 
States.  But  in  times  of  popular  agitation  reason, 
facts,  and  arguments  are  no  more  than  straws 
before  the  wind,  and  the  examples  and  warnings 
presented  by  the  American  government  are  miscon 
strued  or  disregarded. 


CHAP.  It.  THE    8TATR    AND    THE    UNION  19 


CHAPTER  IL 

THE   STATE   AND   THE   UNION. 

THE  authors  of  the  Constitution  proposed  to  them 
selves  an  undertaking  which  no  human  ingenuity 
could  have  accomplished.  Thirteen  States  which 
had  been  accustomed  to  make  their  own  laws,  to 
decide  what  taxes  they  should  pay,  and  generally 
to  control  their  own  affairs,  were  to  be  brought 
together  by  a  common  bond.  It  was  to  be  a  bond 
strong  enough  to  render  a  general  government 
practicable,  and  yet  not  so  strong  as  to  impair  the 
efficiency  or  independence  of  the  local  governments. 
It  was  to  be  elastic  enough  to  enclose  new  members 
of  the  Federation,  and  its  pressure  was  to  be  equally 
distributed  over  all  parts.  It  was  to  endure  for  all 
ages,  and  be  capable  of  satisfying  the  requirements 
of  as  many  millions  as  there  were  thousands  in  the 
Confederacy.  A  complex  machine  was  set  in  motion, 
constructed  by  many  hands,  and  with  pieces  inserted 
in  various  points  at  the  last  moment  to  gratify  caprice 
or  appease  jealousies.  There  were  independent  parts 
in  it  which  always  had  a  tendency  to  come  into  colli 
sion,  and  which  yet  were  supposed  to  be  certain  to 

c  2 


20  THE    STATE    AND    THE    UNION.  CHAP.  II. 

go  on  working  independently  for  ever.  Small  local 
ambitions  and  great  national  aspirations  were  alike 
to  be  satisfied.  The  community  might  progress,  new 
interests  might  arise,  new  conditions  of  life  be  forced 
upon  the  people.  But  the  general  theory  of  the 
government,  it  was  thought,  could  never  need  recon 
struction.  It  was  imperishable,  perfect  in  all  its 
parts,  secure  in  all  its  details,  destined  to  be  the 
wonder  and  envy  of  the  world  as  at  once  the  most 
just  and  most  beneficent  form  of  government  which  a 
nation  of  free  men  ever  had  the  wisdom  to  choose  for 
themselves. 

A^ery  few  years  elapsed  before  there  began  to  be  dis 
covered  in  this  carefully  studied  plan  many  unfortunate 
deficiencies.  The  newly  created  power  threatened 
to  swallow  up  the  old  one.  The  States  were  always 
in  alarm  for  the  preservation  of  their  rights.  The 
Federal  government  was  regarded  with  affection 
because  it  was  believed  to  confer  many  inestimable 
benefits  upon  the  people.  It  was  in  purpose  a  just  and 
fair  government;  it  left  every  man  free  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  labour,  unless  he  were  a  slave ;  and  it 
relieved  the  public  mind  from  the  fear  of  foreign 
aggression.  But  there  were  critical  misunderstand 
ings  in  the  community,  and  very  early  in  the  history  of 
the  new  commonwealth  they  seemed  likely  to  produce 
disastrous  consequences.  The  very  soldiers  who  had 
fought  together  against  the  English  regiments  quar 
relled  bitterly  on  questions  relating  to  their  several 
States.  "  The  Southern  troops,"  wrote  Washington's 


CHAP.  II.  SECTIONAL   DIFFERENCES.  21 

adjutant  general,  "  comprising  the  regiments  south  of 
the  Delaware,  looked  \vith  very  unkind  feelings  on 
those  of  New  England."  And  Washington  himself  was 
obliged  to  rebuke  in  general  orders  the  "jealousies" 
which  had  "arisen  among  the  troops  from  the  dif 
ferent  provinces,"  and  more  than  once  he  betrayed 
in  his  private  letters  the  uneasiness  which  these 
bickerings  caused  him.1  The  vote  upon  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  even  after  a  number  of  amend 
ments  had  been  made  to  it,  stood  187  in  its  favour 
and  168  against — and  thus  by  a  majority  of  nineteen 
only  was  it  held  to  be  binding  upon  the  States.  The 
dissatisfaction  of  this  very  powerful  minority,  and  the 
early  internal  dissensions,  grew  more  alarming  every 
year.2  In  1792  Jefferson  advised  Washington  to 
serve  as  President  a  second  term,  in  order  that  he 
might  guard  against  "  violence  and  secession."  In  a 
few  years  there  rapidly  sprung  up  a  series  of  disputes 
upon  questions  of  commerce,  upon  slavery,  upon  pro 
tection,  upon  tariff  laws.3  The  discussion  whether 
States  had  or  had  not  a  right  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union  without  molestation  runs  through  the  whole 
history  of  the  country  down  to  the  time  when  the 
great  issue  was  decided  on  the  battle-fields  of  the 
South.  Slavery  was  only  the  most  important  of  a 


1  Sparkes'  •  Life  of  Washington,'  and  Fowler's  '  Sectional  Con 
troversy'  (New  York,  1865),  p.  12. 

3  Story's  '  Commentaries'  (3rd  ed.),  book  iii.  chap.  ii. 

3  Fowler's  'Sectional  Controversy,'  pp.  12,  41,  52,  66,  108,  110. 
133. 


22  THE    STATE    AND    THE    UNION.  CHAP.  II. 

number  of  circumstances  which  had  a  tendency  to 
dissolve  the  Union.  Almost  every  State  that  has 
ever  felt  itself  aggrieved  threatened  to  quit  the 
Federation.  Massachusetts  has  done  so  repeatedly. 
During  the  war  of  1812  there  occurred  an  angry 
contention  with  respect  to  the  authority  of  the  central 
government  over  the  militia  of  the  States.  On  one 
side  it  was  affirmed  that  the  government  could  call 
out  the  militia  when  it  pleased ;  on  the  other  it  was 
insisted  that  the  States  alone  possessed  this  right. 
The  governor  of  Massachusetts  was  one  of  the  many 
men  in  office  who  took  the  popular  view,  and  main 
tained  that  the  powers  of  the  Federal  government 
were  limited  by  the  Constitution,  and  that  the  State 
legislatures  were  "the  guardians,  not  only  of  indi 
viduals,  but  of  the  sovereignty  of  their  respective 
States."  A  representative  in  Congress  from  Massa 
chusetts  said  that  the  Federal  government  could  riot 
claim  any  power  by  implication,  but  that  the  State 
governments  might.  The  press  and  the  pulpit  of 
New  England  insisted  energetically  on  their  right 
of  separation,  and  many  years  afterwards  Mr. 
Webster,  in  the  course  of  his  celebrated  discussion 
with  Hayne  in  the  Senate,  said — "  We,  sir,  who 
oppose  the  Carolina  doctrine  do  not  deny  that  the 
people  may,  if  they  choose,  throw  off  any  government 
when  it  becomes  oppressive  and  intolerable,  and  erect 
a  better  in  its  stead."  It  is  useless  to  multiply  these 
illustrations.  The  doctrine  that  the  States  were  left 
free  to  choose  whether  they  would  remain  in  the 


CHAP.  II.  DOUBTFUL  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.  23 

Union  or  detach  themselves  from  it,  was  never  refuted, 
though  it  was  occasionally  contradicted,  until  the 
Southern  States  unwisely  precipitated  the  decision 
in  1861. 

It  was  not  possible  that  a  good  understanding 
could  be  preserved  between  the  Federal  power  and 
the  governments  of  the  States  by  a  written  Consti 
tution.  On  the  contrary,  such  a  compact  was  likely 
to  deepen  old  animosities,  and  inflame  local  jealousies. 
It  was  only  by  the  studied  employment  in  the  Con 
stitution  of  vague  and  disputable  terms  that  the 
assent  of  the  majority  of  the  States  was  procured. 
The  demands  which  could  not  be  satisfied  were 
evaded.  The  language  in  which  the  instrument  was 
drawn  up  left  each  side  free  to  suppose  that  it  had 
gained  the  victory.  The  advocates  of  the  central 
government,  and  the  advocates  of  State  rights,  either 
considered  that  they  had  triumphed,  or  that  all  the 
questions  between  them  were  still  left  open.  This 
intentional  ambiguity  was  only  cleared  away  by  a 
civil  war  more  angry  and  bloody,  and  entailing 
greater  miseries  upon  the  conquered,  than  any  other 
recorded  in  history.  If  the  Constitution  had  been 
what  some  believed,  and  all  hoped  it  was,  it  would 
have  prevented  this  contest.  However  difficult  it 
might  have  been  in  1787  to  put  sectional  disagree 
ments  at  rest,  it  would  have  cost  the  people  less  then 
to  have  attempted  the  task  than  it  cost  them  in  1861. 
The  leaves  of  the  Sibyl  had  eventually  to  be  pur 
chased  at  a  fearful  price,  and  the  secret  written 


24  THE    STATE    AND    THE    UNION.  CHAP.  II 

upon  them  was  found  to  be — "absolute  submission 
to  the  majority,  indissolubility  of  the  Union."  The 
"  sovereignty  "  and  "  independence  "  of  the  States 
are  henceforth  hemmed  in  within  positive  limits  by 
the  sword  and  the  bayonet.  A  State  which  enters 
the  Union  can  never  leave  it  again.  The  first  parties 
to  the  contract  might  have  pleaded  that  they  mis 
read  it  and  were  deceived,  but  those  who  accept  it 
now  do  so  with  their  eyes  fully  open  to  its  obligations 
and  the  penalty  of  infringing  them.  Had  it  been  so 
explicit  at  first  there  would  have  been  no  war  of 
secession,  because  there  would  have  been  no  Union. 
The  States  in  1787-89  would  never  have  signed 
away  their  independent  powers.  They  held  certain 
principles  which,  so  far  from  being  odious,  no  one 
attempted  to  controvert.  Less  than  eighty  years 
afterwards  the  practical  application  of  those  same 
principles  ruined  eleven  millions  of  people,  anni 
hilated  their  commerce,  deprived  them  of  all  political 
or  social  rights,  and  laid  their  property  and  their 
persons  at  the  mercy  of  their  conquerors.  The  Con 
stitution  itself  was  the  primary  cause  of  these  calami 
ties.  It  did  not  expressly  forbid  secession  ;  it  did 
not  expressly  countenance  it.  It  was  quite  possible 
for  conscientious  men,  North  and  South,  sincerely 
to  believe  they  were  in  the  right.  The  Constitution 
was  purposely  framed  so  that  it  might  be  read  in 
two  ways.  The  North  chose  one  reading,  the  South 
the  other,  and  thus  it  befell  that  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  were  visited  upon  the  children,  and  the  South 


CRAP.  II.  STATE    RIGHTS.  25 

bore  the  penalty  which  is  exacted  when  one  genera 
tion  shifts  its  duties  and  responsibilities  to  another. 

Under  the  influence  of  an  organic  national  law 
which  every  side  might  interpret  as  it  pleased,  which 
might  be  held  to  mean  one  thing  one  week  and  a 
totally  different  thing  the  next,  the  whole  character 
of  the  government  has  been  changed.  No  one  can 
now  say  with  any  certainty  what  will  be  even  its 
chief  features  in  ten  years  to  come.  The  alluring 
ambition  to  become  a  great  nation,  respected  if  pos 
sible,  but  certainly  feared,  by  the  rest  of  the  world, 
is  displacing  the  early  attachment  to  the  independ 
ence  of  States.  At  first  the  Union  was  designed 
to  be  a  Federation,  with  sufficient  powers  at  the 
central  point  to  preserve  it  from  outer  attack,  and  to 
secure  a  just  performance  of  the  obligations  which 
had  been  entered  into  by  the  contracting  States. 
The  evils  suffered  under  the  old  Confederation  had 
proved  to  the  people  the  necessity  of  a  strong 
government,  and  they  wished  to  construct  a  govern 
ment  as  strong  as  was  consistent  with  the  rights  of 
States.  There  was  nothing  so  dear  to  the  people  as 
the  integrity  of  their  local  systems.  The  Federal 
government  was  intended  to  be  an  amplification  of  the 
State  government.  Each  State  has  its  Legislature, 
which  is  divided  into  two  Houses,  and  there  is  an 
Executive  at  the  head  who,  as  often  as  the  Legislature 
meets — generally  once  a  year — prepares  a  message 
describing  the  condition  and  necessities  of  the  com 
munity.  The  two  Houses  then  proceed  to  adjust  the 


26  THE    STATE   AND   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  IL 

finances  of  the  State,  and  pass  such  laws  as  are 
deemed  expedient.  In  all  these  details  a  close 
parallel  can  be  perceived  in  the  Federal  government. 
Could  it  be  supposed  that  these  two  powers,  the 
greater  and  the  lesser,  would  constantly  work  side  by 
side  together  in  harmony  ? 

The  conflict  was  indeed  unavoidable.  The  am 
bition  of  the  Federal  Legislature  was  certain  to 
increase,  and  it  was  left  by  the  Constitution  to  run 
its  course  without  restraint.  The  Executive  was 
armed  only  with  a  qualified  veto,  which,  when  party 
passions  ran  high,  might  easily  be  rendered  com 
pletely  unavailing.  The  Judiciary  could  not  interpose 
until  it  was  too  late  to  undo  anything.  It  had  no 
initiatory  action,  and  if  its  decision  gave  offence  it 
was  doubtful  whether  it  could  save  even  itself  for 
long  together.  We  should  depreciate  the  sagacity 
of  the  founders  of  the  Constitution  if  we  supposed 
that  they  were  unconscious  of  these  elements  of 
discord.  But  they  trusted  to  the  future  to  discover 
safeguards  and  remedies  which  they  did  not  dare  to 
propose.  They  looked  upon  their  work  when  it  was 
finished  with  quite-  as  much  disquietude  as  admira 
tion.  "  Hamilton,  Washington,  and  others,"  says 
an  American  writer,  "  regarded  democracy  as  a  very 
doubtful  experiment.  They  made  the  Constitution 
as  conservative  as  they  dared  to  make  it,  but  they 
knew  well  it  was  a  fragile  bark,  freighted  with  a 
precious  cargo,  and  launched  on  the  waves  of  a 
treacherous  and  tempestuous  sea.  They  looked  in 


CHAP.  IL  THE   CENTRAL   POWER.  27 

vain  for  the  elements  that  give  strength  and  endur 
ance  to  the  British  government,  the  church,  the 
aristocracy,  the  throne,  each  connected  with  the 
past  and  the  future,  each  presenting  bulwarks  like 
rocks  to  the  surges  of  popular  passion/' 4  They  would 
have  been  affrighted  at  the  bare  vision  of  universal 
suffrage  and  the  supremacy  of  a  democracy,  stripped 
of  all  the  "checks  and  balances"  which  they  vainly 
imagined  would  be  everlasting,  levelling  all  distinc 
tions  of  intellect  or  station  throughout  the  land.  But 
anarchy  was  behind  them,  and  they  were  obliged  to  go 
forward  into  darkness  and  doubt.  They  bequeathed 
the  dangers  from  which  they  shrank  to  their  descend 
ants,  and  it  was  an  inheritance  of  evil  which  went  on 
accumulating  until  it  deluged  the  land  with  blood. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  powerful  central  govern 
ment  was  the  boon  which  men  like  Washington  and 
Madison  sought  to  give  the  people.  In  the  Federal 
Convention  which  drew  up  the  draft  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  in  the  State  Conventions  which  afterwards 
ratified  it,  the  same  idea  was  constantly  expressed.5 
The  old  Confederation  had  led  to  great  injustices. 
Connecticut  complained,  for  instance,  that,  while  it 
had  borne  a  heavy  share  of  the  burden  caused  by 
the  war,  other  States  refused  to  pay  anything.6  The 

4  Fisher's  'Trial  of  the  Constitution,'  p.  71.  See  also  chapter 
xii.,  on  the  '  Prospects  of  the  Union.' 

•"'  Elliot  s  '  Debates '  in  tlie  Constitutional  Conventions,  ii.  pp. 
102-3,  196,  &c. 

6  See  also  a  speed i  made  by  Mr.  Hamilton  in  the  Convention  of 
New  York,  Elliot's  '  Debates.'  ii.  p.  232. 


28  THE   STATE   AND   THE   UNION.  CRAP.  II. 

Confederation  was  abandoned  expressly  because  of 
the  absence  in  it  of  a  central  power.  In  the  Con 
vention  of  1787  Mr.  Eandolph  urged  that  a  mere 
Federation  of  the  States  woul  1  not  be  sufficient,  and 
he  moved  a  resolution  that  "  a  national  government 
ought  to  be  established  consisting  of  a  supreme, 
legislative,  and  judiciary." 7  This  was  carried  by  a 
vote  of  six  against  one.  There  were  others  in  the 
Convention  who  would  have  circumscribed  the  autho 
rity  of  the  States,  if  they  had  dared,  once  for  all,  but 
the  temper  of  the  people  forbade  the  attempt.  Then 
they  thought  it  better  to  possess  an  appreciable  share 
in  the  government  of  a  "  sovereign  State"  than  to  be 
units  in  a  nation.  The  belief  of  the  "Fathers" 
was  that  the  federal  system  would  always  be,  by  its 
very  organization,  dependent  upon  the  State  system. 
To  use  the  figure  which  is  in  every  child's  mouth  in 
America,  the  central  government  was  the  sun,  and 
the  State  governments  the  planets  which  revolved 
round  it.  "  The  Union,"  said  Hamilton  when  the 
subject  was  being  discussed  in  the  Convention  of 
New  York,  "  is  dependent  on  the  will  of  State  go 
vernments  for  its  chief  magistrate  and  for  its  Senate. 
The  blow  aimed  at  the  members  must  give  a  fatal 
wound  to  the  head,  and  the  destruction  of  the  States 
must  be  at  once  a  political  suicide."8  The  State  go 
vernments  can  never  be  invaded,  was  the  cry  with 
\vhich  Madison  and  his  colleagues  were  constantly 
obliged  to  allay  the  distrust  of  the  people.  They 

•  Madison's  'Reports,'  p.  132.  8  Elliot's  f  Debate?,'  ii.  p.  353. 


CHAP.  ii.       STATE  INDEPENDENCE  A  NATIONAL 

were  met  with  such  answers  as  the  following 

WY 

appears  to  me  that  the  State  governments  ^K-iioTUS^ 
sufficiently  secured,  and  that  they  may  be 
up  by  the  great  mass  of  powers  given  to 
State  governments  are  the  basis  of  our  happiness, 
security,  and  prosperity." 9  The  very  phrase  "  We 
the  people  "  provoked  a  storm  of  objections  in  several 
of  the  Conventions,  because  it  seemed  to  imply  a  con 
solidation  of  all  the  States.  ';  Will  any  gentleman 
say,"  asked  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Conven 
tion,  "that  a  consolidated  government  will  answer 
this  country  ?  It  is  too  large." 10  In  the  Philadelphia 
Convention  (1787)  Mr.  Dickinson,  delegate  from  De 
laware,  laid  stress  on  the  importance  of  securing 
great  powers  to  the  States.  **  This,"  he  said,  "  was 
the  ground  of  his  consolation  for  the  future  fate  of 
his  country.  Without  this,  and  in  case  of  a  consoli 
dation  of  the  States  into  one  great  Republic,  we 
might  read  its  fate  in  the  history  of  the  smaller 
ones."11  This  gentleman's  colleague  took  a  more 
searching  glance  into  the  future,  and  told  the  Con 
vention,  "Too  much  attachment  is  betrayed  to  the 
State  governments.  A  national  government  must  soon 

9  Speech  of  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Convention,  Elliot's 
'  Debates,'  iv.  p.  51. 

10  Ibid.  p.  24.     Upon  how  narrow  a  basis  the  original  Convention 
constructed  the  Union  is  shown  by  the  remark  of  Mr.  Sherman,  that 
"  there  was  no  probability  that  the  number  of  future  States  would  ex 
ceed  that  of  the  existing  States.  If  the  event  should  ever  happrn,  it  was 
too  remote  to  be  taken  into  consideration  at  this  time."      (Madison's 
'  Rej.orts,'  p.  310.)    Scarcely  eighty  years  have  passed,  and  the  original 
number  of  States  Ls  already  nearly  trebled. 

11  Madison's  '  Reports,'  148. 


THE    STATE   AND   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  U, 

of  necessity  swallow  them  all  up." 12  But,  returned  Mr. 
Hamilton  again,  and  the  men  who  thought  with  him 
re-echoed  his  words,  "  The  State  governments  possess 
inherent  advantages  which  will  ever  give  them  an  in 
fluence  and  ascendency  over  the  national  government, 
and  will  for  ever  preclude  the  possibility  of  Federal 
encroachments." 13  A  nd  Madison  frequently  declared 
his  belief  that  there  was  more  to  be  feared  from  the  en 
croachments  of  State  governments  upon  the  Federal 
government  than  from  encroachments  the  other  way.14 
This  great  controversy,  beginning  with  the  birth 
of  the  government,  became  more  hopeless  of  solution 
or  compromise  whenever  a  settlement  was  attempted. 
It  was  manifestly  not  of  a  nature  to  admit  of  being 
determined  by  peaceable  means.  The  pretensions  of 
the  rival  powers  could  only  be  laid  at  rest  by  one, 
conquering  the  other.  For  it  would  inevitably  hap 
pen  that  Congress  would  enact  laws  which  some 
States  would  regard  as  depriving  them  of  their  just 
rights,  they  would  resist,  and  a  revolution  might  be 
delayed  but  could  not  ultimately  be  averted.  Jeffer 
son  described  the  State  and  Federal  governments 
as  "co-ordinate  powers,"  but  he  was  constrained  to 
admit  that  circumstances  might  arise  in  which  one 
would  trespass  upon  the  functions  of  the  other. 
Then  where  was  the  pacifying  medium  ?  Who  was 
to  be  umpire  between  the  contestants  ?  "  A  Conven- 


12  Madison's  «  Reports,'  p.  163. 

13  Elliot's  '  Debates,'  ii.  239.     See  also  ibid.,  pp.  304,  353,  365-Cc, 
and  459-G4.  "  Madison's  '  Reports,'  pp.  221-22. 


CHAJ>.  1J.       U8ELESSNESS    OP    THE    BTATE    CONVENTION.  31 

tion  of  States,"  answers  Jefferson,  "  must  be  called  to 
ascribe  the  doubtful  power  to  that  department  which 
they  may  think  best."  But  the  remedy  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  people  at  the  very  moment  they 
needed  it.  In  a  period  of  excitement  and  agitation 
some  quick  and  ready  mode  of  arbitration  is  indis 
pensable,  if  peace  is  to  be  preserved.  Now  it  is  a 
tardy  and  cumbrous  process  to  call  a  Convention  of 
the  States ;  and  if  at  any  time  the  question  in  dispute 
is  one  which  affects  large  classes  variously,  the  Con 
vention  even  when  called  would  never  be  found  to 
agree.  This  can  be  proved  by  an  arithmetical  state 
ment.  The  concurrence  of  three-fourths  of  the  States 
is  necessary  to  carry  out  a  change  in  the  Constitution. 
In  the  differences  between  the  North  and  the  South 
it  is  evident  that  three-fourths  of  the  States  never 
could  at  any  time  have  been  brought  to  agree  upon 
a  single  point.  In  1861  there  were  thirty-three 
States  in  the  Union,  of  which  eleven  demanded  the 
right  to  live  in  a  separate  Confederation.  At  least 
five  or  six  other  States  were  divided  in  opinion  with 
respect  to  this  claim,  some  of  their  inhabitants  ap 
proving  and  some  opposing  it.  The  remainder  refused 
to  listen  to  it  for  a  moment.  How,  then,  was  it  pos 
sible  to  bring  three-fourths  of  the  whole  number  into 
accordance?  Compromise  had  been  tried  until  the 
very  mention  of  farther  compromise  was  almost  suffi 
cient  to  stir  up  a  revolution.  The  eleven  States  then 
said,  "  We  will  fight  to  obtain  our  liberty ;  "  and  the 
majority,  seeing  that  they  must  fight  or  yield,  and 


82  THE   STATE    AND    THE   UNION.  CHAP.  IL 

knowing  well  that  they  could  not  yield  without  losing 
all,  and  seeing  moreover  that  the  constitutional  pro 
vision  for  settling  disputes  had  completely  broken 
down,  accepted  the  challenge  and  went  into  the 
field.  What  else  could  be  done  ?  The  nineteen 
States  would  not  yield  a  point;  the  fourteen  wero 
equally  inflexible.  Thus  the  Constitution  practically 
furnished  no  other  instrument  for  the  settlement  of 
national  differences  but  the  sword. 

The  peace  of  the  country  will  be  jeopardised  in 
precisely  the  same  manner  whenever  a  question 
arises  which  a  proportion  of  the  States  exceeding 
one-fourth  are  anxious  to  carry.  They  will  be  strong 
enough  to  resist  constitutional  amendments.  A  con 
vention  of  the  States  can  settle  nothing.  War  must 
then  be  the  only  arbitrator  between  the  disputants. 
The  amendments  to  the  Constitution  made  since 
1861  have  been  effected,  with  one  exception — that 
abolishing  slavery — by  excluding  the  eleven  insur 
gent  States  from  voting.  States  which  had  never 
committed  the  folly  of  withdrawing  their  representa 
tives  from  Congress  could  not  be  so  treated,  and  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  precedent  of  altering  the  Con 
stitution  by  the  device  of  forcibly  suppressing  the 
minority  will  receive  the  sanction  of  coming  genera 
tions.  A  settlement  of  this  kind  can  never  be  deemed 
permanent.  As  the  disorganised  minority  become 
stronger  they  will  be  more  strenuous  in  their  de 
mands  for  the  restoration  of  their  prerogatives  The 
only  means  by  which  their  ultimate  success  could  be 


CBAP.1L  THE   POWER   OF   AMENDMENT.  38 

prevented  would  be  by  keeping  them-  in  perpetual 
subjection.  Slavery  was  abolished  by  the  vote  of 
the  Slave  States,  but  negro  suffrage  and  the  dis- 
franchiseinent  of  white  citizens  was  forced  upon  them 
against  their  will,  and  in  undoubted  contravention  of 
the  express  guarantee  of  the  Constitution  that  each 
State  shall  be  allowed  to  choose  its  own  form  of  suf 
frage.  The  right  of  conquest  was  urged  as  the  justifi 
cation  for  this  and  many  similar  measures,  but  it  is  one 
of  the  arguments  of  the  victors  which  are  only  cogent 
while  cannon  may  be  brought  up  to  enforce  them. 

It  is  not  without  envy  that  Americans  compare 
their  own  Constitution,  as  concerns  the  emendatory 
power,  with  that  of  Great  Britain.  They  see  that 
Parliament  can  and  does  readily  carry  out  such 
reforms  as  may  be  called  for  by  the  progress  and 
increase  of  the  people.  There  is  open  and  fair  dis 
cussion,  and  the  right  of  decision  is  not  placed  in 
an  impossible  majority.  The  American  method  ot' 
Reform,  as  it  is  described  by  an  American  writer, 
"  is  so  difficult  that  it  can  rarely  be  resorted  to  at  all, 
and  so  dangerous  that  to  use  it  would  be  only  some 
thing  better  than  civil  war,  for  it  would  be  likely  to 
provoke  one.  It  implies  more  intelligence,  and  more 
dispassionate  calmness  of  deliberation,  than  is  or  can 
be  possessed  by  any  people."15  This,  then,  is  one 
detail  of  government  in  which  the  Constitution  has 
not  answered  to  the  necessities  or  expectations  of  the 

15  'The  Trial  of  the  Constitution.'     By  Sidney  George  Fisher 
(Philadelphia,  1862.) 

D 


34  THE    STATE   AND   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  II. 

people.  When  it  was  framed  the  country  was  dis 
tracted  by  feuds  which  it  was  intended  to  remove. 
It  helped  to  increase  them.  It  was  based  upon  the 
assumption  that  local  differences  would  die  out. 
They  have  been  exasperated  and  embittered  by 
violent  discussions,  by  the  conviction  that  they  are 
irremediable,  and  by  the  memory  of  a  thousand 
wrongs,  real  or  fancied,  on  both  sides.  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  one  of  the  statesmen  who  dreaded  this 
loosening  of  what  has  been  called,  with  a  touch 
of  irony  as  it  might  almost  seem,  "  the  fraternal  tie." 
"Far  better  will  it  be,"  said  he  in  1839,  "for  the 
people  of  the  disunited  States  to  part  in  friendship 
from  each  other  than  to  be  held  together  by  con 
straint."  His  remark  shows  how  little  he  understood 
his  own  country.  It  is  too  ambitious  to  permit  itself 
to  be  cut  into  fragments.  A  partition  of  the  Union 
is  not  possible  without  a  war,  unless  there  should 
ever  be  a  majority  for  secession.  Then  the  minority 
could  no  more  hold  the  discontented  fast  than  the 
minority  could  escape  from  the  grasp  of  the  majority 
in  1861.  "One  flag,  one  people"  is  the  formula 
which  expresses  the  modern  theory  of  American 
Republicanism.  The  Union  before  everything — 
before  States,  before  the  Constitution,  before  even 
liberty  itself.  For  that  idea  the  American  people 
have  submitted  to  be  taxed  as  few  nations  have  ever 
been  taxed  before,  and  for  it  they  would  willingly 
endure  afresh  the  burdens  which  the  bloody  contest 
of  four  years  visited  upon  them. 


CHAT.  III.  THE  EXECUTIVE.  35 


CHAPTEK    III. 

THE   EXECUTIVE. 

IT  has  been  often  represented  that  the  Executive 
Department  of  the  United  States  government  is  the 
most  powerful  and  the  least  under  control  known  to 
any  country.  Although  there  were  bounds  prescribed 
in  the  Constitution  beyond  which  the  President 
could  not  pass,  yet  those  bounds  seemed  too  elastic 
for  the  public  safety,  and  the  most  accomplished 
American  statesmen  and  constitutional  writers  have 
expressed  misgivings  lest  one  day  the  liberties  of  the 
people  should  be  invaded.  Patrick  Henry,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Republic,  declared  his  dread  that  the 
President  "might  easily  become  a  king."  "If,"  lie 
said,  "  your  American  chief  be  a  man  of  ambition 
and  abilities,  how  easy  it  will  be  for  him  to  render 
himself  absolute  !"  It  was  unquestionably  the  inten 
tion  of  those  who  originally  framed  the  government 
that  the  Executive  should  exercise  a  considerable, 
and  to  some  degree  an  independent  control  over 
public  affairs.  Judge  Story,  among  other  commen 
tators  on  the  Constitution,  justifies  this  upon  the 
ground  that  a  feeble  Executive  implies  a  feeble  exe- 

P  2 


OO  THE    EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  Ul. 

cution  of  the  government,  and  a  feeble  execution  is 
but  another  phrase  for  a  bad  execution.  The  direct 
source  of  the  influence  possessed  by  the  President 
was  the  patronage  in  his  gift,  but  in  the  first  years  of 
the  government  the  full  importance  of  this  was  not 
realised,  because  the  patronage  was  administered  with 
an  honest  regard  to  the  public  service.  But  that  the 
President  was  strong,  stronger  than  a  constitutional 
ruler  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  was  a  theory  which 
has  generally  been  accredited  as  a  fact.  Few  public 
men  in  America  have  hesitated  to  express  the  opinion 
that  the  Executive  office  was  so  carefully  and  surely 
guarded  that  it  would  be  easier  for  a  President  to 
exceed  his  proper  functions  than  for  the  Legislative 
to  trespass  upon  his  prerogatives.  Mr.  Seward,  a 
man  of  unrivalled  information  upon  the  machinery 
of  his  own  government,  once  said  to  me,  "  We  elect 
a  king  for  four  years,  and  give  him  absolute  power 
within  certain  limits,  which  after  all  he  can  interpret 
for  himself."  This  is  a  proposition  which  would  no 
longer  be  maintained  by  any  American  statesman. 
Among  the  unlooked-for  consequences  of  the  great 
struggle  between  the  North  and  the  South  is  the 
determination  of  the  principle  that  the  Executive  is 
weak  as  soon  as  it  is  arrayed  against  the  Legislative 
and  the  strong  bias  of  public  opinion.  It  is  never 
more  than  relatively  strong.  Its  arm  is  paralysed  for 
independent  action  when  it  can  no  longer  summon 
two-thirds  of  each  Legislative  Chamber  to  its  side. 
Whatever  strength  it  possesses  is  derived  exclusively 


CHVP.UI.    WASHINGTON'S  ANXIETY  FOB  THE  EXECUTIVE.       37 

from  the  true  fountain  of  political  power,  the  people. 
The  fear  that  the  head  of  the  administration  might 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  other  departments  of  the 
government  was  not  absent  from  the  minds  of 
the  founders  of  the  Constitution.  Washington  al 
ways  impressed  upon  his  contemporaries  the  import 
ance  of  preserving  the  independence  of  the  office 
beyond  the  reach  of  attack.  He  told  Jefferson  in 
1790,  during  the  progress  of  a  controversy  with 
reference  to  the  assumption  of  State  debts,  "  that  the 
President  was  the  centre,  in  which  all  administrative 
questions  ultimately  rested,  and  that  all  of  us  (mean 
ing  the  Cabinet)  should  rally  round  him,  and  support, 
with  joint  efforts,  measures  approved  by  him."  In 
the  Convention  of  1787  it  was  urged  by  many 
members  that  in  order  to  preserve  the  Executive 
from  undue  interference  it  should  have  the  right  to 
exercise  an  absolute  negative,  for,  it  was  said,  "  with 
out  such  a  self-defence  the  Legislature  can  at  any 
moment  sink  it  into  non-existence."1  But  there  was  a 
still  more  numerous  party  which  shrank  back  alarmed 
from  the  thought  that  the  President  might  indeed 
become  a  King.  They  conceived  that  the  President 
was  already  made  too  powerful.  It  might  be  the 
fate  of  the  country  to  be  absolutely  ruled  for  four 
years  by  one  man.  He  might  be  a  bad,  unscrupulous, 
ambitious  man  ;  and  if  he  could  overmaster  tha  Legis 
lature  the  whole  business  of  the  country  would  be 

1  Madison's  'Reports,'   p.    151,  and  c;«ech  of  Mr.  Gouvoimur 
Morris,  p.  334. 


38  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  III. 

stopped,  and  a  yoke  immeasurably  more  intolerable 
than  that  from  which  they  had  escaped  would  be 
placed  upon  their  necks.  The  short  term  of  office 
and  the  qualified  veto  were  regarded  as  indispensable 
securities,  and  the  actual  strength  of  the  office  was 
left,  like  many  other  details  of  the  scheme,  to  be 
tested  by  subsequent  experiment. 

The  memorable  events  which  set  this  question  at 
rest  for  ever,  and  made  it  past  dispute  that  the  Legis 
lative  can  absorb  the  chief  functions  of  the  Executive 
whenever  it  is  able  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the 
majority  in  the  country,  have  only  occurred  since 
the  war.  There  was  always  a  doubt  respecting  what 
the  President  could  or  could  not  do.  A  determined 
man,  skilfully  disguising  his  encroachments,  might  go 
far  beyond  the  limits  which  his  predecessors  reached, 
and  which  the  Constitution  seemed  to  mark  out.  The 
history  of  the  administration  of  President  Jackson 
presents  an  illustration  of  the  liberties  which  may  be 
taken  by  a  resolute  man,  not  deficient  in  tact,  and 
watching  narrowly  the  shifting  current  of  public 
opinion.  He  carried  out  his  projects  partly  by  his 
dogged  determination  and  strength  of  character,  but 
more  by  the  unscrupulous  use  which  he  made  of  the 
self-interests  of  others.  He  let  corruption  loose  upon 
the  land.  Every  public  office  was  a  bribe — every 
post  in  his  gift  was  put  up  for  sale  in  the  market 
place.  By  this  device  he  defied  Congress,  and  yet 
was  never  an  unpopular  man.  People  rather  admired 
and  laughed  at  his  "  smartness."  He  succeeded  in 


CfcUP.  UI.         INHERENT    WEAKNESS    OP    THE   OFFICE.  39 

* 

his  aims,  but  his  success  was  not  the  means  of  per 
manently  enlarging  the  power  and  authority  of  his 
office.  He  merely  showed  how  the  Presidency  might 
be  made  all-powerful  by  the  exercise  of  craft,  cunning, 
and  a  quick  appreciation  of  the  popular  will.  And 
even  Jackson  himself,  after  carrying  out  .his  own 
measures  in  opposition  to  the  Legislature,  thought  it 
judicious  to  make  professions  of  his  subserviency  to 
that  body.  In  his  message  of  1836  he  said,  "  No 
one  can  be  more  deeply  impressed  than  I  am  with 
the  soundness  of  the  doctrine  which  restrains  and 
limits  excutive  discretion." 

It  was  the  lack  of  the  perception  of  the  inherent 
weakness  of  the  Executive,  and  its  liability  to  be 
paralysed  by  the  Legislative,  which  was  the  original 
source  of  President  Johnson's  troubles.  That  error 
cost  him  his  reputation,  and  prevented  him  from 
being  of  that  service  to  a  disordered  country  which 
his  general  capacities  warranted  his  friends  in  expect 
ing.  He  could  not  understand  that  he  might  be 
practically  deposed.  When  he  succeeded  Mr.  Lincoln 
he  was  wedded  to  a  scheme  which  he  had  devised  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Southern  States,  and  he  never 
once  doubted  his  ability  to  carry  it  through.  The 
language  of  his  vetoes  in  1866,  though  more  guarded 
than  his  speeches,  betrayed  this  belief  in  his  supre 
macy,  and  it  was  one  of  the  first  circumstances  which 
provoked  the  suspicions  and  hostility  of  the  Repub 
lican  party.  They  were  incensed  at  his  pretensions, 
and  disappointed  with  the  total  change  which  he 


40  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  11L 

A 

avowed  in  his  opinions.  On  the  21st  of  April,  1865, 
he  told  a  delegation  from  Indiana  that  "treason 
against  the  government  of  the  United  States  is  the 
highest  crime  that  can  be  committed,  and  those 
engaged  in  it  should  suffer  all  its  penalties."  And 
again  lie  .said,  "  traitors  must  be  made  odious,  treason 
must  be  made  odious,  and  traitors  must  be  punished 
and  impoverished."  Their  "social  power  must  be 
destroyed,"  and  "  every  Union  man  and  the  govern 
ment  should  be  remunerated  out  of  the  pockets  of 
those  who  have  inflicted  this  great  suffering  upon 
the  country." 

It  was  no  wonder  that  the  Republican  party  should 
at  first  have  placed  almost  unlimited  faith  and  con 
fidence  in  the  man  who  took  every  occasion  to  utter 
sentiments  such  as  these.  They  thought  they  saw 
the  '•  hand  of  God  "  in  the  "  removal  "  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  the  substitution  of  a  man  of  sterner  mould.  But 
Mr.  Johnson  had  not  been  long  in  office  before  the 
facts  which  were  brought  to  his  knowledge,  as  chief 
of  the  nation,  convinced  him  that  the  South  needed 
no  additional  stripes  to  reduce  it  to  submission.  Its 
load  was  already  greater  than  it  could  bear.  The 
President's  compassion  was  moved  by  the  great  and 
ceaseless  cry  of  misery  and  despair  which  every 
breeze  carried  to  him  from  across  the  Potomac.  As 
he  looked  from  his  windows  in  the  White  House 
towards  the  South,  he  saw  a  country  which  was 
entirely  given  over  to  its  enemies,  and  which  could 
look  only  to  him  for  aid.  He  thought  it  was  his  duty 


CHAP.  III.  PRESIDENT   JOHNSON'S   ERRORS.  41 

as  the  Executive  to  stand  by  the  States  which  had 
sinned  and  repented,  and  which  now  demanded  his 
protection.  But  Mr.  Johnson  was  not  free  from 
the  Southern  inflammability  of  temperament,  and  the 
gibes  of  his  political  antagonists  unfortunately  excited 
him  to  make  open  war  upon  the  Legislative.  Misled 
by  his  belief  that  almost  unlimited  power  was  in 
trusted  to  him,  he  sought  opportunities  to  attack 
Congress  when  ordinary  discretion  might  have  ad 
monished  him  to  act  on  the  defensive.  He  spoke 
of  that  body  as  "  hanging  on  the  verge  of  the  govern 
ment,"  "  traitors  at  the  other  end  of  the  line,"  "  the 
tail  of  the  government,"  and  used  other  terms  which 
denoted  that  in  his  opinion  he  possessed  the  chief, 
and  Congress  only  a  secondary  right,  to  direct  public 
affairs.  The  people  were  alarmed  at  this  language, 
and  deeply  offended  by  the  want  of  dignity  and 
self-command  which  the  President  occasionally  dis 
played.  In  this  respect  Americans  are  not  less 
sensitive  than  the  older  and  inc-re  aristocratic  nations 
of  the  world.  They  expect  their  chief  magistrate  to 
comport  himself  in  a  manner  becoming  the  head  of  a 
great  people.  They  may  choose  him  from  a  humble 
rank,  but  they  look  to  him  to  rise  to  the  level  of  the 
post  in  which  they  place  him.  Mr.  Johnson's  con 
stant  allusions  to  his  original  calling  were  excessively 
distasteful  to  the  people.  They  considered  that  he 
dishonoured  himself  and  his  office  by  haranguing 
every  crowd  which  chose  to  bring  a  barbarous  band 
of  music  under  his  windows,  and  yell  forth  vulgar 


42  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  II L 

songs,  and  scream  for  "  Andy  Johnson."  They  were 
ashamed  to  find  their  chief  magistrate  bandying 
slang  and  interchanging  coarse  personalities  with  the 
scourings  of  the  streets  and  the  ruffians  of  the  bar 
room.  They  smarted  under  the  sense  that  they  were 
degraded  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  that  a  great 
crisis  in  their  affairs  was  made  to  look  puerile  and 
mean.  It  was  useless  for  Mr.  Johnson  to  boast  of  his 
humble  origin  and  his  early  struggles.  The  nation 
took  no  pride  in  them.  An  American  writer  well 
expressed  the  common  feeling  of  his  countrymen 
when  he  remarked — "  The  people  do  not  take  it  as  a 
compliment  to  be  told  that  they  have  chosen  a  ple 
beian  to  the  highest  office,  for  they  are  not  fond  of  "a 
plebeian  tone  of  mind  or  manners.  What  they  do 
like,  we  believe,  is  to  be  represented  by  their  fore 
most  man,  their  highest  type  of  courage,  sense,  and 
patriotism,  no  matter  what  his  origin."2  But  it  was 
with  strange  forgetfulness  of  the  very  root  of  all  their 
political  and  social  theories  that  the  President's 
origin  was  cast  in  his  teeth  as  an  insult.  The 
coarseness  of  these  attacks  sometimes  shocked  men 
of  all  parties.  "His  head,"  said  a  member  of  the 
House,  at  a  public  meeting  in  Washington,3  "  will 
rest  more  quietly  on  the  lapboard  and  the  goose  than 
while  oppressed  with  a  crown."  It  was  a  mistake  on 
the  part  of  the  President  to  dwell  so  much  upon  the 

2  •  North  American  Review/  April  1866. 

3  Held  3rd  December,  1866.     The  speaker  was  Mr.  Covode,  of 
Pennsylvania. 


OIAP.  111.       CONGRESSIONAL    STRUGGLE   FOR    MASTERY.  43 

past,  but  it  was  cowardice  in  his  -opponents  to  make 
it  matter  of  reproach  against  him.  They  had  not 
been  deceived.  They  chose  with  their  eyes  open. 
They  knew  who  and  what  Mr.  Johnson  was  before 
they  elected  him  Vice-President.  If  the  people  do 
not  like  mechanics  to  be  their  great  public  officers, 
they  need  not  go  to  that  class  for  them.  But  the 
truth  is,  that  many  of  the  results  of  popular  govern 
ment  are  unsatisfactory  to  the  Americans  when  they 
are  brought  into  close  contact  with  them.  They 
would  not  for  the  world  renounce  the  principle  that 
all  men  are  equal ;  but  they  would  give  a  great  deal 
to  make  their  principle  harmonise  with  facts. 
'  The  differences  between  the  President  and  the 
Legislature  soon  became  irreconcilable.  Mr.  Johnson 
thoroughly  believed  that  Congress  was  exceeding  its 
proper  functions  in  refusing  to  adopt  his  or  some 
similar  plan  for  the  speedy  admission  of  the  eleven 
insurgent  States ;  and  yet  nothing  can  be  more  firmly 
established  than  the  right  of  each  House  to  decide 
for  itself  upon  the  qualifications  of  its  members. 
This  was  a  province  in  which  the  Executive  had  no 
right  to  interfere.  But  Mr.  Johnson  was  eager  to 
restore  the  Southern  States  to  their  former  position, 
honestly  believing  that  representation  in  the  na 
tional  legislature  belonged  to  them  of  right,  and 
that  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  country  that  they 
should  possess  it  soon  and  unabridged.  The  majority 
in  Congress  contended  that  the  Secessionists  had  for 
feited  their  former  claim  to  representation,  and  could 


44  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  III. 

only  be  received  afresh  into  the  Legislature  upon  new 
terms,  such  terms  as  their  conquerors  chose  to  insist 
on.  Then  arose  the  charge  and  countercharge  of  "  cen 
tralization"  and  "oppression."  Members  of  Congress 
standing  up  in  their  places  stigmatised  the  President 
as  a  tyrant,  a 'despot,  and  an  usurper.  He  was  even 
accused  of  conspiring  with  the  assassin  Booth,  a  low 
theatrical  madman,  to  murder  Mr.  Lincoln.  The 
most  intolerable  accusations  were  levelled  at  his 
private  character.  Mr.  Johnson  retorted  upon  his 
assailants  in  a  similar  temper,  and  in  language  not 
less  violent  than  that  which  proceeded  from  their  lips. 
He  made  his  appeal  to  the  country  through  his  veto 
messages,  and  the  answer  was.  returned  by  the  re-elec 
tion  of  the  Congress  which  had  passed  its  Bills  over  his 
vetoes,  and  thus  reduced  him  to  the  position  of  a  mere 
agent  who  feebly  protests  against  measures  which  he 
is  bound  to  put  into  execution  with  his  own  hand. 

All  these  events  proved  that  the  power  of  the 
Executive  is  very  limited,  and  that  what  little  of 
it  there  is  depends  upon  the  will  of  the  people. 
Popular  or  unpopular,  the  President  stands  practically 
unsupported.  He  is  the  Minister  of  Congress,  a  chief 
magistrate,  not  an  independent  ruler.  No  man  oc 
cupying  the  Presidential  chair  can  hope  to  carry 
out  his  own  views  or  measures  when  Congress  is 
confirmed  in  its  opposition  to  him  by  the  majority  of 
the  people.  His  blindness  to  this  unwritten  law  was 
another  of  the  errors  into  which  Mr.  Johnson  fell, 
and  it  was  one  which  added  to  the  misfortunes  of 


CfcAP.  III.  THE    POWER    OF    THE   LEGISLATURE.  46 

the  Southern  States.  The  Northern  people,  angered 
at  the  zeal  and  ardour  of  their  partizan,  became 
more  and  more  embittered  against  those  who  had 
endeavoured  to  destroy  the  Union.  The  generous 
impulse  of  forgiveness  which  immediately  suc 
ceeded  the  war  soon  passed  away.  The  President 
was  determined  to  bring  the  South  back  into  the 
Union  upon  what  he  deemed  just,  and  what  un 
doubtedly  were  strictly  constitutional,  conditions. 
He  did  not  take  into  consideration  several  circum 
stances  which  might  have  been  sufficient  to  warn 
him  that  failure  beset  his  steps.  During  the  war 
unusual,  and  even  unconstitutional,  powers  had  been 
wielded  by  the  Executive.  The  liberty  of  the  press 
was  sometimes  interrupted,  and  private  citizens  were 
arrested,  as  Mr.  Seward  ^said,  upon  the  tinkling  of  a 
little  bell.  These  and  a  hundred  other  arbitrary 
acts  were  condoned  by  the  people  in  consideration 
of  the  perils  to  the  government  which  they .  were 
designed  to  ward  off  or  avenge.  The  war  came  to  an 
end ;  Mr.  Lincoln  died ;  and  his  successor  thought 
to  exercise  the  same  authoritative  sway  which  had 
been  sanctioned  in  the  hour  of  the  nation's  trial  and 
extremity.  He  did  not  perceive  that  an  absolutism 
which  was  justifiable  in  time  of  war  would  not  be 
submitted  to  in  time  of  peace.  Congressional  rule, 
which  had  sunk  into  comparative  abeyance,  was  sure 
to  be  revived.  The  Legislative,  which  had  to  a 
certain  extent  been  subverted,  began  to  recover  its 
former  place.  The  issue  was  invited  by  the  Presi- 


46  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHXP.  III. 

denl  himself  whether  Congress  or  the  Executive 
should  govern  the  country,  and  the  people  decided 
in  favour  of  Congress.  The  President  had  appa 
rently  grasped  at  a  dictatorship  to  which  he  was 
not  deemed  to  be  entitled,  either  by  precedent, 
the  Constitution,  or  by  extraordinary  qualities  of 
personal  tit  ness.  Mr.  Lincoln,  covered  with  the 
glory  of  the  war,  could  not  have  carried  out  what  Mr. 
Johnson  attempted.  Instead  of  keeping  the  Southern 
States  in  the  position  in  winch  they  had  placed 
themselves  by  the  war  until  Congress  met  in  Decem 
ber,  1865,  or  instead  of  calling  an  earlier  and  extra 
session,  he  proceeded  to  "  reconstruct "  them  accord 
ing  to  his  own  method.  In  somewhat  peremptory 
terms  he  urged  Congress  to  follow  the  course  upon 
which  he  had  entered,  an-1  -to  receive  the  Southern 
delegates  into  their  midst.  But  the  members  of  both 
Houses  met  him  in  an  incensed  mood.  Their  first 
act  was  to  assemble  in  private  and  form  committees 
to  which  all  questions  affecting  the  return  of  the 
seceded  States  to  Congress  should  be  referred.  In 
vain  the  President  interposed  his  vetoes,  and  de 
claimed  from  the  steps  of  the  White  House, or  appealed 
to  the  multitude  in  a  journey  through  the  West.  The 
people  heard  him  coldly,  even  contemptuously.  The 
constant  cry  which  met  his  ears  was,  "  We  will  not 
be  robbed  of  our  victory — the  South  shall  never 
make  another  attempt  to  divide  the  Union."  The* 
President  would  not  be  convinced  that  it  was  the 
true  voice  of  the  people  which  ho  heard.  The 


CHAP.  III.  THE   PRESIDENTIAL   PATRONAGE.  47 

elections  of  1866  might  have  removed  his  doubts,  but 
they  seemed  only  to  confirm  him  in  his  inflexibility, 
and  his  message  to  the  second  session  of  the  thirty- 
ninth  Congress  contained  the  avowal  that  he  had  not 
changed  his  convictions,  but  that  on  the  contrary 
time  had  confirmed  his  belief  in  their  correctness. 

The  disagreement  between  the  Executive  and  the 
Legislative  was  too  fundamental  to  admit  of  a  com 
promise.  Both  Houses  met  on  the  3rd  of  December. 
1866,  fully  determined  to  reduce  the  Presidential 
authority  to  a  shadow,  and  afterwards  to  force  Mr. 
Johnson  to  carry  into  eifect  their  own  policy.  The 
threat  of  impeachment  was  constantly  held  over  his 
head  without  making  the  least  impression  upon  a 
nature  so  unbending  and  determined.  The  first 
attack  made  was  upon  the  Executive  right  of  patron 
age.  This  had  always  been  a  subject  of  controversy. 
In  the  eai-ly  stages  of  the  government,  the  patron 
age  in  the  gift  of  the  President  was  very  considerable. 
The  growth  of  the  country,  and  the  multiplication 
of  offices,  has  rendered  it  enormous.  When  Judge 
Story  wrote  his  Commentaries  upon  the  Constitution, 
in  1840,  he  was  already  impressed  with  the  belief 
that  the  exercise  of  this  patronage  might  become 
"one  of  the  most  dangerous  and  corrupt  engines 
to  destroy  private  independence  and  public  liberty 
which  can  assail  the  Republic."  In  whom  the  power 
to"  remove  public  officers  was  vested  by  the  Constitu 
tion  has  never  been  properly  decided.  If  the  Senate, 
't  was  argued  by  some,  could  alone  confirm  and 


48  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  HI. 

perfect  appointments,  so  that  body  alone  could  put  a 
termination  to  them.  The  Congress  of  171)8  seemed 
to  decide  that  the  power  of  removal  rested  with  the 
President,  but  the  decision  has  ever  been  deemed 
questionable  and  unsatisfactory.  Nevertheless,  suc 
cessive  Presidents  continued  to  claim  this  privilege.1 
Some  of  them  used  it  as  an  engine  of  corruption,  and 
one  or  two  pushed  it  to  the  verge  of  recklessness. 
The  mischief  to  be  caused  now  by  the  same  conduct 
is  much  greater  than  it  was  in  former  times.  An 
able  American  writer,  Professor  Bo  wen,  has  justly 
described  the  magnitude  of  the  evil : — "  The  patron 
age  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,"  he  re 
marks,  "  is  now  enormous,  and  has  become  a  dominant 
feature  in  the  operation  of  our  national  government. 
Reckoning  the  subordinate  officers  in  the  Post-office 
and  Customs  departments,  all  of  whom  derive  their 
appointments  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  Presi 
dent,  and  continue  in  office  only  during  his  plea 
sure,  and  most  of  whom,  in  fact,  give  place  to  new 
incumbents  at  every  change  of  administration,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  influence  of  the  Executive  govern 
ment,  through  the  number  of  places  at  its  disposal, 
has  become  excessive,  and  imperils  both  the  moral 
character  and  the  stability  of  our  republican  insti 
tutions." 


4  Story  explained  how  all  checks  upon  the  exercise  of  ttife 
privilege  might  be  evaded.  (See  Story,  p.  17f>,  small  ed.'l 

6  Professor  Bowen's  note  to  'De  Tocqueville,'  pp.  157-58.  Ir 
quoting  the  English  translation  of  M.  de  Tocquoville's  work  th 


CHAP.  liL  USE    OF    IT    BY    MK.    JOHNSON.  49 

During  the  recess  of  1866  this  tremendous  weapon 
was  used  freely  by  President  Johnson  in  the  hope  of 
controlling  the  autumn  elections.  Public  officers  of 
republican  principles  were  removed  in  order  to  make 
room  for  men  pledged  to  support  the  administra 
tion.  This  stroke  produced  an  effect  the  reverse  of 
that  which  was  anticipated.  The  President's  party 
secure  1  indeed  the  votes  of  the  new  functionaries, 
but  the  indignation  of  the  bulk  oi  the  people  was 
aroused  at  the  abuse  of  patropage,  exaggerated  as 
it  was  by  the  reports  of  the  hostile  party,  and  they 
came  forward  in  a  solid  phalanx  against  the  author 
of  it.  Thus  encouraged,  Congress  on  the  very  first 
day  of  meeting  received  several  proposals  from  its 
members  to  restrict  the  appointing  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  President.  The  most  important  of  them 
was  introduced  by  Mr.  Stevens  in  the  form  of  a  Bill 
to  "  regulate  removals  from  office."  It  provided 
that  removals  from  office  should  be  made  only  with 
the  consent  of  the  Senate  ;  that  the  President  should 
have  power  to  suspend  from  their  duties  incompe 
tent  or  defaulting  officers  during  the  recess  of  the 
Senate,  but  only  upon  .condition  that  within  ten 
days  after  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate  the  Pre- 


author  has  used  the  excellent  edition  published  by  Professor  Bowen, 
founded  on  Mr.  Henry  Reeves's,  and  published  at  Cambridge  (U.S.) 
1&64.  For  the  convenience  of  the  reader  the  reference  is  also  given 
to  the  corresponding  passage  in  the  original  text,  the  edition  quoted 
throughout  being  the  fourteenth,  published  by  Michel  Levy  Freres, 
1865. 

E 


50  THE    EXECUTIVE.  CHAP,  m 

sident  "shall  submit  his  reasons  for  the  removal  of 
any  officer  to  that  body,  and  in  case  they  are  not 
concurred  in  the  inculpated  person  shall  be  restored 
to  his  position;"  that  every  person  recommended  to 
the  Senate  for  office,  and  rejected,  "  shall  be  incap 
able  of  holding  any  office  under  the  United  States 
for  the  term  of  three  years  after  such  rejection,  unless 
two-thirds  of  the  Senate  shall  relieve  him  of  such 
disability."  And  the  Bill  further  made  it  imperative 
upon  the  Presidc-nt  to  submit  all  his  nominations  to 
the  Senate  within  twenty  days  after  they  were  made, 
or  after  the  commencement  .of  the  next  succeeding 
session  of  the  Senate. 

Such  was  the  first  of  the  measures  which  wero 
destined  to  strike  at  the  very  root  of  the  illicit 
influence  which  the  Executive  possessed.  It  was 
soon  surpassed  by  more  sweeping  propositions.  There 
was  much  to  be  said  in  favour  of  these  proceedings. 
The  system  of  corruption  which  has  been  developed 
in  the  United  States  by  the  disposal  of  patronage  is 
universal.  Office-seekers  throng  the  ante-rooms  of 
the  White  House  every  day,  and  once  in  every  four 
years,  when  a  change  of  President  occurs,  the 
majority  of  men  in  public  offices  have  always  been 
liable  to  dismissal.  The  disadvantages  occasioned  to 
the  public  service  are  incalculable.  Men  are  chosen 
to  fill  posts,  not  on  account  of  their  fitness,  but 
because  of  the  service  they  have  been  or  may  be  in 
elections.  It  is  no  honour  to  be  a  member  of  the  Civil 
Service  in  America.  It  is  best  to  allow  an  American 


CHAP.  m.  CURTAILMENT    OF    PREROGATIVES.  51 

writer  to  explain  the  opinions  of  his  country 
men  upon  tins  subject.6  "  The  Government  rarely 
finds  itself  able  to  secure  the  best  men  for  its  civil 
service.  ...  So  that  we  witness  at  this  moment  the 
extraordinary  fact,  that  to  be  the  servant  of  what  is 
fondly  called  '  the  best  government  the  world  ever 
saw/  not  only  does  not,  as  in  other  countries,  raise  a 
man  in  the  social  scale,  but  actually  reflects  some 
thing  very  like  discredit  on  him."  And  the  writer 
goes  on  to  say  that  "  waste,  corruption,  inefficiency, 
and  want  of  discipline,"  are  the  consequences  of  this 
system. 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  then,  that  there  was  great 
need  for  the  reform  pressed  by  the  Republican  party 
in  181:56.  They  proposed  it  for  purposes  of  party; 
they  were  naturally  unwilling  to  see  the  whole 
patronage  of  the  government  taken  away  from  them 
and  conferred  upon  the 'opposition,  while  they  were 
all-powerful  and  the  opposition  was  but  an  insignifi 
cant  minority  ;  but  still  their  recommendation  had 
so  much  intrinsic  justice  in  it  that  it  was  willingly 
accepted  by  the  people.  It  could  not  be  alleged  that 
it  was  a  novel  attack  upon  the  prerogatives  assumed 
by  the  Executive.  In  the  Congress  of  1789  there 
had  been  a  long  discussion  upon  the  appointing 
power  of  the  President,  and  it  was  contended  that 
it  might  "  render  the  Chief  Magistrate  arbitrary,  and, 
in  some  measure,  absolute."  That  Congress,  as  I 


8  'North  American  Review/  July,  1865. 

E   2 


52  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  II L 

have  stated,  left  the  question  undecided,  and  it  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  revived  in  the  Legislature 
until  1826,  when  on  the  4th  of  May  Colonel  Benton 
presented  a  report  from  a  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  to  the  effect  that  the  amount  of 
patronage  exercised  by  the  President  ought  to  be 
reduced  by  law,  and  presenting  six  Bills  for  that 
purpose.  No  action  was  taken  upon  them,  and  the 
subject  was  again  neglected  until  the  session  of 
1834-35,  when  a  Committee  of  the  Senate  was  ap 
pointed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  reducing 
the  Executive  patronage.  A  long  report  was  subse 
quently  presented  by  this  committee,  of  which 
Mr.  Calhoun  was  chairman,  and  a  Bill  wras  brought 
in  which  required  the  President  to  assign  his 
reasons  to  Congress  for  the  removal  of  any  officer. 
In  the  debate  upon  this  measure  Mr.  Webster  de 
livered  one  of  his  great  speeches,  in  which  he  con 
tended  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  never 
intended  to  give  the  President  the  power  of  removing 
public  servants  from  office.7  The  Bill  was  passed,  but 
the  system  of  corruption  it  was  intended  to  destroy 
continued  to  grow,  and  to  inflict  year  after  year 
greater  evils  upon  the  country.  At  last,  in  the  early 
part  of  1867,  a  Bill  passed  both  Houses8  which  ren- 

7  •  Works  of  Daniel  Webster'  (Boston,  1866),  vol.  iv.  p.  179. 

8  Known  as  the  'Tenure  of  Office  Bill.'     It  seems  impossible  that 
this  law  can  stand.     During  the  recess  of  Congress  a  man  proved  to 
be  guilty  of  theft  or  forgery  may  be  in  a  public  office,  and  the  Pre 
sident  be  powerless  to  remove  him  until  the  Senate  meet.    Moreover, 
it  is  manifestly  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  public  service  that 
the  President  should  not  be  frpe  to  chooee  hie  own  Cabinet 


CHAP.  111.      SUBORDINATION  OP  THE  PRESIDENT  TO  CONGRESS.    58 

dered  the  President  incompetent  either  to  remove 
or  appoint  public  officers  of  the  higher  grades,  or  even 
his  Cabinet  Ministers,  without  the  consent  and  ap 
proval  of  the  Senate.  It  was  vetoed  by  Mr.  Johnson, 
but  re-passed  instantly  and  became  the  law  of  the 
land. 

Every  event  in  the  course  of  this  long  struggle 
proved  that  a  President  of  the  United  States  cannot 
be  strong  unless  he  consents  to  obey  the  behests  of  a 
powerful  party.  Mr.  Johnson  had  separated  himself 
from  the  party  which  caused  his  election,  and  the 
other  side  were  too  doubtful  about  his  principles  to 
adopt  him  as  their  representative.  Besides,  he  came 
to  them  with  an  injured  reputation,  and  they  had 
already  more  than  enough  odium  to  bear  in  conse 
quence  of  their  opposition  to  the  war.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  when  all  the  States  are  fully  represented 
any  future  President  can  be  as  weak  as  Mr.  Johnson 
found  himself.  But  the  Executive  must  necessarily 
always  be  dependent  upon  party,  and  much  at  the 
mercy  of  the  Legislature.  The  single  circumstance 
that  the  occupant  of  the  office  is  liable  to  impeach 
ment  and  trial  by  the  body  upon  which  it  is  a  part  of 
his  duty  to  exercise  a  check  must  suffice  to  keep  him 
in  subjection.  He  must  be  the  creature  of  those  who 
nominated  him.  He  will  be  judged  by  the  fidelity 
with  which  he  has  adhered  to  his  friends  and  sup 
porters.  Just  before  Mr.  Lincoln's  death  he  gave 
indications  of  being  animated  by  more  merciful  feel 
ings  towards  the  insurrectionary  States  than  his 


64  THE   EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  DL 

political  friends  approved.  Instantly  they  turned 
round  angrily  upon  him,  and  denounced  his  conduct 
with  a  readiness  and  violence  which  showed  how 
little  past  services  avail  when  a  public  officer  ceases 
to  do  the  bidding  of  his  party.  Any  man  who 
entered  upon  the  Presidency  with  his  mind  imbued 
with  the  precepts  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  teach 
ing  of  the  "  Fathers,"  would  ruin  his  cause  and  himself 
in  a  twelvemonth. 

The  condition  to  which  the  Presidential  office  has 
fallen  is  a  memorable  instance  of  the  fallacy  of 
theories  of  government.  Upon  this  part  of  their 
system  the  founders  of  the  Constitution  lavished 
endless  study  and  care.  They  had  the  experience  of 
the  world  to  guide  them,  and  they  believed  that  they 
were  about  to  advance  the  science  of  government  a 
thousand  years.  But  their  favourite  piece  of  work 
has  disappointed  the  people.  The  Executive  is  a  prize 
contended  for  chiefly  by  hungry  place-hunters,  or  by 
the  obscure  and  illiterate  puppets  of  a  faction.  The 
educated  class  has  been  driven  from  the  ranks  of  com 
petitors.  The  office  has  almost  ceased  to  be  an  object 
of  ambition,  and  the  holder  of  it  must,  by  the  inevitable 
circumstances  of  his  position,  be  the  slave  of  those 
who  set  him  in  the  place  of  authority,  only  to  use  him 
for  their  own  purposes.  He  is  kept  upon  a  stinted 
allowance,  and  for  four  years  is  the  butt  and  jeer 
of  the  party  opposed  to  his  own.  After  his  term 
of  office  is  fulfilled  he  sinks  into  sudden  obscurity 
and  contempt.  An  ex-President  is  a  ruined  man. 


CLAJP.  III.  DECLINE   OF    THE   OFFICE.  55 

He  is  less  thought  of,  less  regarded,  than  the  most 
Commonplace  of  politicians.  He  is  seldom  seen  in 
society  ;  scarcely  is  he  ever  spoken  of  by  the  public 
press  without  a  sneering  adjective  prefixed  to  his 
name.  All  sections  of  all  parties  carefully  avoid 
him,  because  he  is  sure  to  have  done  something  to 
offend  some  class  in  the  country  whose  influence  is 
needed  at  elections.  All  this  is  a  strange  contrast 
to  that  imaginary  Executive  which  Madison  and  his 
contemporaries  had  before  their  eyes.  They  meant 
the  post  to  be  one  full  of  dignity  and  honour,  but, 
among  many  other  miscalculations,  they  failed  to 
make  allowance  for  the  deteriorating  effect  of  an 
almost  unrestricted  suffrage.  They  trusted  too  much 
to  the  continual  existence  of  a  Conservative  tendency 
in  a  community  which  was  told  that  it  might  recast 
the  fabric  of  its  government  whenever  it  was  in  the 
humour. 

The  re-eligibility  of  the  President  may  be  one 
cause  of  the  gradual  decadence  of  the  office.  It  is 
now  to  the  interest  of  the  minority  to  blacken  and 
defame  him  so  that  he  at  least  may  be  removed  from 
their  path.  It  is  also  to  the  interest  of  the  President 
to  scheme  and  manoeuvre  for  a  second  term.  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  in  his  first  annual  message,  suggested 
that  the  period  of  service  of  the  chief  magistrate 
should  be  limited  to  a  single  term  of  either  four  or 
six  years,  and  from  the  time  of  the  Federal  Conven 
tion  until  now  the  same  idea  has  constantly  been  a 
subject  of  discussion.  The  chief  objections  to  it  are 


66  THE    EXECUTIVE.  CHAP.  III. 

those  mentioned  by  Mr.  Justice  Story — namely,  that 
it  would  deprive  the  country  of  the  experience  gained 
by  the  chief  magistrate  in  the  exercise  of  office,  and 
that  "  it  might  banish  men  from  the  station  in  certain 
emergencies,  in  which  their  services  might  be  emi 
nently  useful,  and  indeed  almost  indispensable  for  the 
safety  of  their  country." 9  But  if  the  period  of  office 
were  extended  from  four  to  seven  years  these  possible 
inconveniences  would  be  guarded  against,  and  the 
great  evils  of  constantly  recurring  Presidential  elec 
tions,  with  all  the  demoralization  and  excitement 
which  they  bring,  would  be  modified.  The  time 
is  probably  approaching  when  some  change  of  this 
kind  will  be  made.  Some  steps  towards  it  have 
already  been  taken.  On  the  llth  of  February,  1867, 
a  debate  arose  in  the  Senate  upon  a  proposition  to 
amend  the  Constitution  in  order  that  the  President 
might  be  made  ineligible  for  re-election.  To  this  an 
amendment  was  moved  making  his  term  of  office 
six  instead  of  four  years,  and  two  of  the  leading 
senators,  representing  the  Republican  and  Demo 
cratic  parties,10  spoke  upon  the  question.  The 
Democratic  member  thought  that  there  would  be  no 
danger  in  enlarging  the  term  of  office,  and  the  Repub 
lican  recommended  a  still  greater  change  in  the  Con 
stitution —  namely,  that  the  President  be  chosen 
directly  by  the  people  without  the  intervention  of 


»  'Commentaries,'  1442-1449. 

10  Senators    Stunner    (Massachusetts),    and    Keverdy    Johnsou 
^Maryland;. 


CHAP.UL  MODE   OF    ELECTION.  67 

Electoral  Colleges.  "  Such  an  amendment,"  he  said, 
"  would  give  to  every  individual  voter,  wherever  he 
might  be,  a  certain  weight  in  the  election."  He 
might  have  addfed  that  it  would  abolish  a  clumsy 
wheel  in  -the  great  machinery  of  corruption  which  is 
set  going  at  the  time  of  a  Presidential  election.11 


11  MODE  OF  ELECTING  THE  PRESIDENT. — The  persons  whose  votes 
elect  the  President  are  chosen  by  the  people  at  large.  Each  State 
has  as  many  electors  as  it  returns  Senators  and  Representatives  to 
Congress,  but  no  member  of  Congress,  or  officer  of  the  United  States 
drawing  any  emolument,  is  eligible  to  vote  for  the  President.  The 
electors  meet  in  their  own  States,  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  Decem 
ber  in  every  fourth  year  succeeding  the  last  election,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President.  A  list  is  then  made  of  the 
candidates  and  the  number  of  votes  recorded  for  each,  and  sealed 
up  and  transmitted  to  the  President  of  the  Senate,  before  the  first 
Wednesday  of  January  following  the  election.  On  the  second  Wed 
nesday  of  February  the  President  of  the  Senate,  in  the  presence  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  opens  the  list,  counts  the  votes,  and  declares 
the  result.  If  no  one  candidate  has  gained  a  majority  of  the  total 
number  of  electors,  the  five  highest  on  the  list  are  selected,  and  from 
one  of  this  number  the  House  of  Representatives  immediately  elects 
a  President  by  ballot.  In  such  an  extraordinary  election  one  repre 
sentative  from  each  State  votes.  In  case  of  the  death  of  the  Presi 
dent,  or  his  uufitness  for  office,  the  Vice-President  succeeds  him,  and 
serves  out  the  remainder  of  the  term  for  which  the  President  was 
elected.  Should  the  Vice-President  also  die  or  be  incapacitated,  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  would  perform  the  duties  of  the  Executive 
until  the  next  election.  The  only  qualifications  for  President  are 
that  he  must  be  a  natural-born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  that  he  shall 
be  not  less  than  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  have  been  fourteen 
years  a  resident  of  the  United  States.  Ho  is  elected  for  four  years,  is 
allowed  25,000  dollars  a  year  and  a  residence  at  Washington,  and  he 
is  eligible  for  re-election. 

Mr.  Justice  Story  points  out  a  curious  omission  in  the  Constitution. 
"  No  provision,"  he  says,  "  seems  to  be  made,  or  at  least  directly 
made,  tor  the  case  of  the  non-election  of  any  President  or  Vice-Presi 
dent  at  the  period  prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  The  case  of  a 


58  MODE    OF    ELECTING    THE    PRESIDENT.  CHAP.  111. 

vacancy  by  removal,  death,  or  resignation,  is  expressly  provided  for; 
but  not  of  a  vacancy  by  the  expiration  of  the  official  term  of  office. ' 
He  quotes  another  learned  commentator  who  remarks  that  the  over 
sight  may  be  of  use  when  the^people  are  weary  of  the  Constitution 
and  government,  and  desire  to  put  an  end  to  both — "  a  mode  of  disso 
lution  which  seems,  from  its  peaceable  character,  to  recommend 
itself  to  his  mind  as  fit  for  such  a  crisis."  But  Mr.  Justice  Story 
points  out  that  the  failure  of  an  election  would  amount  to  nothing 
more  than  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  functions  of  the  Executive, 
and  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  Legislative  would  quickly  pro 
vide  for  this  or  any  other  emergency  that  might  arise. 


CHAP.  IV  THE  CABINET.  69 


CHAPTEK    IV. 


THE  CABINET. 

IN  the  government  at  Washington  the  Secretaries 
and  Ministers  hold  a  position  altogether  different 
from  that  which  is  occupied  by  the  advisers  of  the 
Crown  in  constitutional  Europe.  There  Parliament 
ary  business  is  conducted  by  the  Cabinet,  while  in 
America  the  Cabinet  is  in  reality  merely  a  Board 
of  heads  of  departments.  It  works  in  the  dark, 
and  is  not  allowed  the  opportunity  of  taking  any 
part  in  the  discussion  of  public  affairs.  Its  mem 
bers  cannot  sit  in  either  branch  of  the  Legislature  ; 
and  when  the  administration  finds  it  necessary  to 
secure  the  passage  of  a  particular  measure,  not 
having  a  duly  authorised  representative  in  Con 
gress,  it  employs  any  mouthpiece  which  offers  itself, 
or  which  is  disposed  to  take  a  reward  for  serving 
it.  This  is  an  engine  of  corruption  which  is  forced 
upon  the  use  of  the  government,  for  there  are 
times  when  circumstances  compel  it  to  offer  bribes 
for  support,  even  in  the  advocacy  of  measures  which 
are  essential  to  the  public  service,  but  which  Con 
gress  may  be  disposed  to  evade  or  postpone.  Then 


60  THE    CABINET.  CHAP.  IV 

some  member  of  influence  in  the  House  is  needed 
to  press  the  subject  upon  the  attention  of  his  col 
leagues,  to  "call  up"  the  Bill,  whatever  it  may  be, 
to  bring  forward  the  arguments  in  its  favour,  to 
answer  objections,  and  to  see  that  it  is  not  killed 
by  the  introduction  of  dilatory  resolutions  —  that 
system  of  tactics  which  is  called  in  Congressional 
language  "  filibustering."  The  advocate  must  neces 
sarily  receive  his  instructions  from  the  department 
of  government  which  is  immediately  interested  in 
the  measure,  and  it  is  seldom  that  he  expects  or  is 
expected  to  take  his  trouble  for  nothing.  If  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  desires  information  with  regard  to 
any  events  which  may  be  transpiring,  he  cannot  put 
a  question  to  any  Minister  in  the  House,  but  he  goes 
instead  to  the  proper  office  of  State,  and  his  vote  is 
usually  of  sufficient  consequence  to  gain  for  him  a 
ready  audience  with  the  Secretary..  Indeed,  office 
doors  stand  perpetually  open  in  Washington.  The 
government  establishments  are  accessible  to  all 
persons,  no  matter  on  what  errand  they  may  be 
bound ;  and  a  Minister  is  seldom  so  firmly  grounded 
in  the  confidence  of  the  nation  as  to  be  able  to 
afford  himself  the  luxury  of  doing  his  work  in  pri 
vate,  undisturbed  by  the  crowd  of  idlers  whose  only 
claim  upon  him  rests  in  the  fact  that  they  belong  to 
his  party. 

The  Cabinet  in  America  has  been  solely  the  crea 
tion  of  party.  The  Constitution  makes  no  mention 
of  it  as  a  Cabinet,  and  refers  but  slightly  to  the  heads 


CHAP.  IV.  COMPOSITION    OF    THE    CABINET.  61 

of  departments ;  while  the  commentators  do  not 
appear  to  have  given  any  attention  to  the  subject.  It 
consists  of  seven  members,  each  of  whom  is  wholly 
destitute  of  influence  except  in  the  department 
placed  under  his  charge.  Each  receives  a  salary  of 
$8000  a  year.  It  has  always  been  the  custom  for 
the  President  to  choose  his  advisers,  and  to  change 
them  whenever  he  thought  proper,  without  any 
virtual  restraint  or  hindrance,  and  this  privilege  has 
been  used  without  question  by  every  President,  from 
Washington  to  Lincoln.  But  in  1867,  as  it  has  been 
said  in  a  previous  chapter,  Congress  took  advantage 
of  the  personal  unpopularity  of  President  Johnson  to 
strike  away  this  function  of  the  Executive  in  order 
that  its  power  in  the  administration  might  not  be 
weakened.  There  have  been  Presidents  who  changed 
their  Cabinets  entirely  more  than  once,  because  of 
differences  of  opinion,  and  no  one  dreamt  of  denying 
the  propriety  or  expediency  of  the  step.  But  for  the 
future,  unless  the  law  of  1867  be  rescinded,  the  Presi 
dent  will  have  merely  a  secondary  voice  in  the  selec 
tion  of  his  Ministers.  Unless  the  Senate  approve  the 
men  whom  he  may  wish  to  appoint,  or  agree  to  the 
removal  of  those  whom  he  may  desire  to  displace,  the 
chief  posts  in  the  public  departments  may  be  kept 
vacant.  The  President  may  still  suspend  his  Minis 
ters  and  nominate  their  successors ;  the  Senate  may 
refuse  to  confirm  the  latter,  and  thus  the  whole 
powers  of  the  Executive  may  be  represented  exclu 
sively  by  the  chief. 


62  THE   CABINET.  CHAP.  IV 

This  is  one  of  those  changes  in  the  construction  of 
the  government  which  no  law  forbade,  but  which 
were  in  the  last  degree  ill-considered  and  unadvisable. 
It  was  adopted  from  party  motives,  to  serve  certain 
purposes  of  the  hour,  and  the  authors  of  it  may  here 
after  have  reason  to  repent  sincerely  of  their  work. 
It  is  only  reasonable  that  the  President  for  the  time 
being  should  have  the  benefit  of  the  advice  of  men  in 
whose  judgment  he  has  confidence.  It  is  not  for  the 
public  benefit  to  surround  him  with  counsellors  whose 
advice  he  will  constantly  reject,  and  who  will  turn 
the  Council-room  into  a  scene  of  incessant  disputes 
and  contention.  The  Cabinet  was  never  designed  to 
be  a  check  upon  the  President,  and  i\  has  no  power 
within  it  to  enable  it  to  struggle  successfully  against 
him.  The  Ministers  cannot  act  without  his  sanction, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  are  supported  by  express  laws, 
but  he  can  act  without  them.  An  experienced  and 
really  valuable  public  servant  will  rarely  be  removed 
by  the  incoming  President,  who  naturally  desires  to 
gain  all  the  useful  aid  he  can  in  the  execution  of  his 
duties.  President  Lincoln's  Cabinet  was  for  a  long 
time  retained  almost  intact  by  his  successor,  although 
some  of  the  members  of  it  were  extremely  obnoxious 
to  President  Johnson.  A  few  of  them  found  that 
they  could  bring  their  minds  into  harmony  with  his 
views,  several  retired,  and  one  was  expelled  from  his 
office  after  an  undignified  attempt  to  keep  possession 
in  defiance  of  the  head  of  the  government.  The 
Secretary  of  War  had  rendered  himself  peculiarly 


CHAP.  IV.  THE    PRESIDENT    AND    HIS    MINISTERS. 


distasteful  to  the  President  by  a  course  o 
which  was  never  modified  for  a  moment,  $q    wc 
was  not  always  respectful  in  its  nature.     He  sat  tyfo  »-.  A 
the  Council  Board  only  to  condemn  every  suggestion 
made  by  the  President,  often  in  language  which  is 
said  to  have  been  calculated  to  arouse  the  ire  of  a 
less  impulsive  man  than  Mr.  Johnson.     At  last  the 
President    wrote   a   note  to   him   in   which  he   was 
requested  to  resign.     The  Secretary  curtly  declined.1 
In   this  position  what  was   to  be   done  ?    Was   the 
President  still  to  receive  in  his  rooms  the  Minister 
who  had  treated  him  and  his  authority  with  contempt  ? 
Was  he  still  to  be  advised  by  the  public  servant 
whom   he   had   discharged  ?     The   business  of  the 


1  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  correspondence  : — 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  August  5,  1867. 
To  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War : — 

SIR, — Grave  public  considerations  constrain  me  to  request  your 
resignation  as  Secretary  of  War. 

ANDREW  JOHNSON, 
President  of  the  United  States. 


War  Department,  Washington,  August  6,  1867. 

To  his  Excellency  ANDREW  JOHNSON,  President  of  the 
United  States:— 

SIR,— Your  note  informing  rne  that  grave  public  considerations 
constrain  you  to  request  my  resignation  as  Secretary  of  War  has 
been  received.  In  answer  I  have  to  state  that  grave  public  con 
siderations  constrain  me  to  continue  in  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War 
until  the  next  meeting  of  Congress. 

EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

Secretary  oj  War. 


64  THE    CABINET.  CHAP.  IT 

country  could  not  be  carried  on  in  this  spirit ; 
and  as  the  President  had  decided  upon  the  removal 
of  his  refractory  counsellor,  it  was  imperative  upon 
him  to  insist  on  being  obeyed.  The  Secretary 
went  out  under  protest,  and  the  Senate  was  left 
to  take  up  the  struggle  in  his  behalf  at  its  next, 
meeting. 

No  one  had  ever  anticipated  such  events  as  these. 
When  the  position  of  Ministers  of  State  was  discussed 
in  the  first  Congress,  Mr.  Madison  contended  that 
a  President  would  never  dare  to  remove  a  faithful 
public  servant ;  but  that  this  was  nothing  more  than 
a  personal  impression  is  proved  by  the  fact  just  stated 
that  Washington  himself  did  remove  Ministers  who 
were  not  even  charged  with  any  want  of  capacity  or 
neglect  of  duty,  and  that  all  his  successors  imitated 
his  example.  As  a  general  rule  this  plan  cannot  be 
unpopular.  The  President  will  represent  the  go 
verning  party,  and  of  course  he  will  nominate  as  his 
subordinates  in  the  executive  government  men  hold 
ing  similar  opinions  to  his  own.  But  if  the  governing 
party  should  turn  out  to  be  forsaken  by  their  candi 
date,  or  deceived  in  him,  they  will  be  injured  by  the 
operation  of  a  system  which  was  devised  for  party 
purposes,  and  will  only  act  well  at  a  time  when  there 
is  a  natural  balance  of  parties.  A  President  who 
turns  the  weapons  of  office  against  those  who  elected 
him  will  necessarily  be  a  thorn  in  their  sides  in  every 
exercise  of  his  authority.  It  is  one  of  the  penalties  of 
making  an  indiscreet  or  an  unfortunate  choice.  But 


CHAP.  IV  THE   POWER   OF   THE   CABINET.  65 

it  is  a  mistake  to  set  aside  every  precedent  and  vio 
late  every  rule  in  order  to  provide  a  cure  for  an  evil 
which  is  only  of  a  temporary  character. 

There  is  no  such  thing,  then,  as  Cabinet  govern 
ment  in  the  United  States,  although  of  late  there  has 
been  a  tendency  to  make  each  individual  Minister 
responsible  for  the  actions  of  the  Executive.  If  this 
were  carried  to  its  complete  result  it  would  prevent 
the  necessity  of  a  President  expelling  froward  mem 
bers  from  his  Cabinet,  by  leading  them  to  withdraw 
when  they  discovered  the  impossibility  of  agreeing 
with  him.  If  they  were  to  be  held  responsible  for 
Jiis  acts,  they  would  hasten  to  set  themselves  right 
,with  the  people  by  resigning  their  offices.  This 
would  be  in  accordance  with  the  theories  of  Federal 
government,  which  support  the  claim  of  the  rulers 
to  all  the  prizes  of  office — the  contest  for  the  Presi 
dency  determining  all  minor  struggles  for  four  years. 
The  party  which  is  in  possession  of  the  majority  is 
never  likely  to  reconcile  itself  to  the  loss  of  all  the 
chief  positions  in  the  country.  Through  the  heads 
of  departments  the  patronage  is  distributed,  and  the 
minority  will  therefore  very  seldom  be  allowed  to 
retain  a  hold  upon  them. 

But  still  it  is  possible  for  the  Ministers  of  State 
to  hold  office  for  many  years  together,  and  in 
this  there  is  often  a  great  advantage  to  the  public. 
The  head  of  a  department  has  time  and  opportunity 
to  acquaint  himself  thoroughly  with  his  duties,  to 
beer  me  familiar  with  all  the  ramifications  to  which 

F 


66  THE   CABINET.  CHAP.  IV. 

his  office  extends,  to  introduce  and  persevere  in  a 
definite  policy,  without  the  fear  hanging  over  his 
head  of  a  sudden  removal  on  account  of  an  adverse 
vote  in  the  Legislature.  Congress  as  a  body  has  no 
jurisdiction  over  him,  and  by  the  Tenure  of  Office 
Bill  the  President  and  the  Senate  combined  could 
not  displace  him.  He  must  remain  in  office  during 
the  term  of  the  Executive  who  appointed  him.  No 
doubt  a  total  change  of  party  majority  would  be 
almost  certain  to  lead  to  a  change  in  the  Cabinet, 
but  Ministers  do  not  necessarily  go  out  upon  the 
election  of  a  new  President.  The  American  navy, 
for  instance,  was  controlled  throughout  the  war  by 
the  same  man,  and  it  was  under  his  direction  that* 
the  fleet  was  entirely  remodelled.  His  plans  were 
not  upset  by  the  return  of  an  adverse  party  to 
power,  and  the  successor  of  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  interfere  with  him.  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  Foreign  Secretary  still  remains  in  office,  and 
his  Financial  Secretary  might  have  done  so  likewise 
if  he  had  not  resigned  on  a  question  of  patronage.2 
Under  any  circumstances  which  may  arise  the  Minis 
ters  are  free  from  the  direct  criticism  of  the  Leirisla- 

O 

ture.  They  are  not  under  the  terror  of  being  cross- 
questioned  upon  delicate  subjects  in  troubled  times 
by  impatient  members.  They  are  not  called  upon  ' 


2  Mr.  Lincoln  wished  to  place  his  own  supporters  in  the  Treasury 
Department ;  Mr.  Chase  considered  that  he  should  be  left  free  to 
choose  his  subordinates  on  grounds  independent  of  their  political 
convictions  •  and  as  they  could  not  agree,  the  Secretary  resigned 


CHAP.  IV.  CABINET   MEETINGS  67 

to  undergo  the  fatigue  and  exertion  of  attendance  in 
Congress.  They  have  their  whole  time  to  devote  to 
the  every-day  duties  of  their  respective  offices,  and 
there  is  not  one  of  them  who  does  not  work  as  hard 
as  any  of  his  clerks. 

It  is  usual  for  the  President  to  consult  with  the 
Cabinet  upon  all  questions  of  public  interest,  but  he 
uses  his  own  discretion  with  regard  to  following  their 
advice.  He  is  responsible  for  all  his  acts — not  they. 
An  eminent  Minister  once  told  me  that  these  Cabinet 
meetings  are  ordinarily  very  simple  and  formal  in 
their  character.  They  are  held  once  a  week,  at  the 
White  House,  the  residence  of  the  President.  The 
President  sits  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  asks 
the  secretary  of  each  department  whether  he  has 
any  business  to  bring  forward.  If  he  has  any  he 
says  so,  and  produces  his  papers  or  notes,  and  the 
matter  is  discussed.  Should  there  be  a  difference 
of  opinion,  the  question  is  put  to  the  vote,  and  the 
action  which  the  majority  desire  is  usually  taken. 
But  the  Minister  to  whom  I  refer  informed  me3 
that  there  is  seldom  any  disagreement  upon  depart 
mental  affairs,  and  in  all  other  matters  the  President 
can,  if  he  please,  come  to  a  decision  without  going 
through  the  form  of  consulting  the  Cabinet.  On 
occasions  when  some  question  of  grave  importance 
has  required  a  settlement  the  President,  since  the 


8  This  was  in  1865.     After  the  differences  between  Mr.  Johnson 
and  his  Cabinet,  he  would  probably  give  a  different  account. 

F   2 


68  THE   CABINET.  CHAP.  IV. 

war,  has  been  in  the  habit  of  calling  in  to  the  council- 
board,  by  special  invitation,  the  General  in  command 
of  the  army,  who  gives  his  opinion  with  the  rest. 
But  this  was  a  proceeding  dictated  by  the  personal 
popularity  of  the  officer  in  question,  and  cannot  be 
drawn  into  a  precedent  for  future  usage. 


THE   LEGISLATIVE.  69 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   LEGISLATIVE. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  Executive  is  destitute  of  all 
influence  or  power  in  framing  the  laws  of  the  United 
States.  As  Chancellor  Kent  explains  his  functions, 
he  has  no  discretion  left  to  him  in  the  execution  of 
the  laws  made  by  a  body  which  is  entirely  independ 
ent  of  him.  '*  It  is  not  for  him  to  deliberate  and 
decide  upon  the  wisdom  or  expediency  of  the  law. 
What  has  been  once  declared  to  be  lawr,  under  all 
the  cautious  forms  of  deliberation  prescribed  by  the 
Constitution,  ought  to  receive  prompt  obedience."1 
The  law-making  power  is  vested  exclusively  in  Con 
gress,  consisting  of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

The  constitution  of  the  Senate  is  simple.  Each 
State  in  the  Union,  regardless  of  its  population  or 
area,  is  entitled  to  send  two  members  to  this  body. 
The  House  of  Representatives  is  constructed  upon  a 
different  plan.  The  Constitution  originally  directed 
that  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons  in  each 


1  '  Commentaries  on  American  Law,'  Part  II.  Lect.  xiii.    (The  edi 
tion  quoted  in  this  book  is  the  eleventh,  published  at  Boston,  1866.) 


70  THE    LEGISLATIVE —  CHAP.  V 

State  three -fifths  of  all  other  persons,  excluding 
Indians  not  taxed,  should  be  added,  and  represen 
tatives  divided  according  to  the  population,  not 
more  than  one  representative  being  allowed  for 
every  30,000  persons.  On  May  29,  1850,  this  plan 
was  abolished,  and  it  was  provided  that  after  March, 
1853,  the  House  of  Representatives  should  be  com 
posed  of  233  members,  who  are  apportioned  in  the 
following  manner:  —  The  aggregate  population  of 
the  United  States,  according  to  the  last  official 
census,  is  divided  by  233,  and  the  product  is  taken 
as  the  ratio  or  rule  of  apportionment.  The  popula 
tion  of  each  State  is  then  taken,  and  divided  by  the 
ratio  just  determined,  and  the  representatives  allotted 
in  accordance  with  the  result.2  The  senators  are 
chosen  by  the  votes  of  the  State  Legislatures;  the 
representatives  by  the  direct  suffrages  of  the  people. 
The  entire  House  of  Representatives  is  elected  at 
various  times,  for  two  years ;  the  six  years'  term 
of  office  of  senators  is  so  arranged  as  that  one-third 
only  shall  fall  vacant  every  second  year,  so  that, 
while  it  is  possible  for  the  people  to  change  the 
entire  House  of  Eepresentatives  once  in  two  years, 
they  cannot  touch  more  than  one-third  of  the  Senate 
in  the  same  time.  "  This  provision,"  remarks  Chan 
cellor  Kent,  "  is  admirably  calculated,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  infuse  into  the  Senate,  biennially,  renewed 


2  Territories  are  allowed  to  send  two  delegates  to  the  Housa  of 
Representatives.  They  may  speak  in  the  assembly,  but  are  not 
permitted  to  vote. 


CHAP.  V.  ITS   FORMATION    AND   DIVISION.  71 

public  confidence  and  vigour ;  and,  on  the  other,  to 
retain  a  large  portion  of  experienced  members,  duly 
initiated  into  the  general  principles  of  national 
policy,  and  the  forms  and  course  of  business  in  the 
House."3  . 

Thus,  then,  the  Legislative  is  divided  into  two 
bodies,  each  having  a  control  over  the  other,  and  the 
concurrence  of  both  being  requisite  to  make  laws. 
The  popular  branch  was  intended  to  be  the  direct 
representative  of  the  people,  the  Senate  of  the  people 
incorporated  as  States,  all  the  States  returning  through 
their  Legislatures  the  same  number  of  senators  irre 
spective  of  their  area,  wealth,  or  population.4  By 
this  double  contrivance  it  was  thought  that  no  class 
or  interest  in  the  country  would  be  left  without  its 
due  share  of  representation  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation.  The  precise  ends  which  the  founders  of 
the  Constitution  aimed  to  accomplish  will  be  most 
satisfactorily  explained  by  a  brief  reference  to  the 
expounders  of  it,  "It  is  the  people  only,"  said 
President  Adams  in  his  inaugural  address,  "  that  are 
represented :  it  is  their  power  and  majesty  that  is 


3  '  Commentaries!,'  Part  II.  Lect.  xi. 

4  It  was  the  original  design  that  the  Senate  should  be  a  check 
upon  the  popular  power.      Thus,  in  the  Convention  of  1787,  Mr. 
Randolph  said, — "  He  observed  that  the  general  object  was  to  pro 
vide  for  the  evils  under  which  the  United  States  laboured;  that  in 
tracing  these  evils  to  their  origin,  every  man  had  found  it  in  the 
turbulence  and  follies  of  democracy ;  that  some  check  therefore  was 
to  be  sought  for  against  this  tendency  of  our  government;   and  that 
a  good  Senate  seemed  moat  likely  to  answer  the  purpose."  (Madison's 

Reports,'  p.  138.) 


72  THE    LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

reflected,  and  only  for  their  good  in  every  legitimate 
government  under  whatever  form  it  may  appear." 
According  to  Jefferson  the  guiding  principle  of  re 
presentation  should  be  to  secure  the  absolute  supre 
macy  of  the  will  of  the  majority.  In  his  inaugural 
address  lie  insists  upon  the  importance  of  "  absolute 
acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority,  the  vital 
principle  of  republics,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal 
but  to  force."  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  remarks, — 
"My  most  earnest  wish  is  to  see  the  republican 
element  of  popular  control  pushed  to  the  maximum 
of  its  practical  exercise.  I  shall  then  believe  that 
our  government  may  be  pure  and  perpetual."5  And 
again  he  writes,—  "  The  first  principle  of  republicanism 
is  that  the  lex  majoris  partis  is  the  fundamental  law 
of  every  society  of  individuals  of  equal  rights ;  to 
consider  the  will  of  the  society  enounced  by  the 
majority  of  a  single  vote  as  sacred  as  if  unanimous, 
is  the  first  of  all  lessons  in  importance,  yet  the  last 
which  is  thoroughly  learnt."6  There  have  been 
writers  who  openly  contended  that  there  would  be 
no  danger  in  giving  the  whole  control  of  the  govern 
ment  to  the  Legislative.  "  The  old  Congress,"  says 
one,7  "  held  the  Executive  power  of  the  Union.  It 
was  a  plural  Executive,  annually  appointed,  liable  to 
recall,  ineligible  after  three  years.  ...  A  sovereignty 


5  Jefferson's  Works,  vol.  vii.  p.  32.  6  Ibid.  vol.  vii.  p.  75. 

^  John  Taylor,  a  Virginian:  'Inquiry  into  the  principles  and 
policy  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States'  (1848),  pp.  175 
and  211. 


CHAP.  V.  CONSTITUTIONAL    FUNCTIONS    OF    CONGRESS.  73 

over  the  Constitution,  objectionable  as  it  would  still 
be,  would  be  safer  in  the  Legislature  than  in  the 
Judiciary,  because  of  its  duennial  responsibility." 
But  there  can  be  no  question  that  those  who  drew 
up  the  Constitution  attached  great  importance  to 
the  principle  that  each  department  of  the  govern 
ment  should  be  kept  distinct  from  the  others,  and 
independent  of  them.  "  To  what  purpose,"  says 
Hamilton,  "  separate  the  Executive  or  the  Judiciary 
from  the  Legislative,  if  both  the  Executive  and  the 
Judiciary  are  so  constituted  as  to  be  at  the  absolute 
devotion  of  the  Legislative  ?  Such  a  separation  must 
be  merely  nominal,  and  incapable  of  producing  the 
ends  for  which  it  was  established."8  The  only  men 
who  seem  to  have  been  desirous  of  placing  the  pre 
ponderance  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Legislative 
were  those  who  represented  the  section  of  the  coun 
try  which  suffered  most  by  that  change  in  after  years. 
The  powers  possessed  by  Congress  are  specifically 
defined  by  the  Constitution.9  It  is  authorised  to 
levy  and  collect  taxes,  to  borrow  money,  to  regulate 
commerce  with  foreign  nations,  to  coin  money  and 
regulate  the  value  thereof,  to  constitute  tribunals 
inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court,  to  declare  war  and 
to  raise  and  support  armies,  to  maintain  a  navy,  and 
make  rules  for  the  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces,  to  admit  new  States  to  Congress,  and  make 
laws  for  the  regulation  of  territories,10  and  to  exercise 


8  '  Federalist/  No.  71.         9  Art.  I.  sect.  8.         >"  Art.  IV.  sect.  3. 


74:  THE    LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

exclusive  legislation  over  the  district  which  is  the 
seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States.11  By 
an  amendment  to  the  original  Constitution  it  is  pro 
vided  that  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting 
an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free 
exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably 
to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a 
redress  of  grievances."  Chancellor  Kent  remarks  of 
the  powers  thus  committed  to  Congress,  that  some  of 
them,  "as  the  levying  of  taxes>  duties,  and  excises, 
are  concurrent  with  similar  powers  in  the  several 
States;  but  in  most  cases  these  powers  are  exclu 
sive,  because  the  concurrent  exercise  of  them  by 
the  States  separately  would  disturb  the  general  har 
mony  and  peace,  and  because  they  would  be  apt  to 
be  repugnant  to  each  other  in  practice  and  lead  to 
dangerous  collisions."  We  shall  see  hereafter  that 
Congress  has  always  shown  a  disposition  to  enlarge 
the  sphere  of  its  authority,  and  to  transcend  the 
plain  and  express  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  It 
was  inevitable  that  this  should  happen.  Congress, 
with  the  support  of  the  majority  to  maintain  it,  was 
sure  to  gain  the  ascendency  in  the  State.  That  it 
should  always  retain  in  the  framework  of  government 
precisely  the  position  assigned  to  it  in  the  Constitu- 


11  It  was  in  the  exercise  of  this  last  power  that  Congress  finally 
passed  an  Act  (over  the  veto  of  President  Johnson)  for  conferring 
the  suffrage  upon  negroes  in  the  district  of  Columbia  (Jan.  7th  and 
8th,  1867). 


CHAP.  V.  AMERICAN   IDEAS    OF    REPRESENTATION.  75 

tion  was  impossible.  There  was  no  other  effectual 
and  abiding  check  placed  upon  it  but  the  will  of 
the  people,  and  to  expect  them  to  control  it  within 
theoretical  limits  was  to  place  before  them  unlimited 
power  and  ask  them  not  to  use  it. 

It  is  a  favourite  boast  with  some  Americans,  al 
though  the  idea  by  no  means  obtains  universal  assent 
among  them,  that  the  scheme  of  representation  so 
laboriously  prepared  in  the  Federal  and  State  Con 
ventions  confers  upon  the  people  the  greatest  ad 
vantages  of  which  any  arrangement  of  the  elective 
franchise  is  capable.  Whatever  the  cultivated  classes 
may  think,  the  masses  believe  that  they  have  a  more 
thorough  and  efficient  representation  in  the  national 
legislature  than  is  kno>/n  anywhere  else  in  the 
world.  And  this  belief  is  fortified  by  the  authority  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  Americans.  Webster 
says,  the  theory  of  representation  "  is  admirably  ac 
commodated  to  our  Constitution,  better  understood 
among  us,  and  more  familiarly  and  extensively  prac 
tised,  in  the  higher  and  in  the  lower  departments  of 
government,  than  it  has  been  by  any  other  people."  ] 
So,  likewise,  Chancellor  Kent  remarks — "  The  United 
States,  in  their  improvements  upon  the  exercise  of 
the  right  of  representation,  may,  as  we  apprehend, 
claim  pre-eminence  over  all  other  governments,  an 
cient  and  modern."13  And  Mr.  Justice  Story  affirmed 
that  every  expedient  which  human  ingenuity  could 


13  Webster's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  40.        13  '  Commentaries,'  Lect.  xi. 


76  THE   LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

devise  to  make  perfect  the  working  of  the  machinery 
of  government  had  been  introduced  "  with  singular 
skill,  ingenuity,  and  wisdom,  into  the  structure  of 
the  Constitution." 14  Notwithstanding  this  wisdom 
and  skill,  we  have  seen  in  our  own  day  that  the 
Legislative  may  be  drawn  into  indecorous  collision 
with  the  Executive,  and  that  the  action  of  the 
general  government  may  for  a  time  be  paralysed 
by  this  unfortunate  hostility.  Year  after  year,  too, 
there  has  been  a  growing  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
the  wealthy  and  cultivated  classes  that  they  are  de 
prived  of  the  influence  which  they  ought  rightfully 
to  exercise  in  the  affairs  of  the  Republic,  and  that 
they  have  no  protection  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  majority.  It  is  important  to  examine  with  some 
care  into  the  circumstances  which  have  served  to 
bring  into  the  light  these  faults  and  defects  of  the 
American  theory  of  representation. 

Mr.  Madison  laid  it  down  as  a  fundamental  axiom, 
that  neither  of  the  departments  of  the  government 
"  ought  to  possess,  directly  or  indirectly,  an  over 
ruling  influence  over  the  others  in  the  administration 
of  their  respective  powers."  It  is  quite  clear,  how 
ever,  that  the  tendency  of  events  in  recent  years 
has  been  towards  the  accumulation  of  power  in  the 
hands  of  Congress  to  an  extent  which  the  authors 
of  the  Constitution  never  contemplated.  In  Madi- 


14  '  Commentaries,'  vol.  i.  scot.  902.    See  also  the  •  Federalist,'  Nos. 
47-48. 


CHAP.  V.        THE    FUTILITY    OF    CHECKS    AND    BALANCES.  77 

son's  day  the  first  indications  of  this  movement  were 
apparent,  and  he  acknowledges,  with  some  regret, 
that  the  "  legislative  department  is  everywhere  ex 
tending  the  sphere  of  its  activity,  and  drawing  all 
power  into  its  impetuous  vortex."15  The  construc 
tion  of  the  government  was  such  as  to  render  this 
result  not  only  probable,  but  unavoidable.  Congress, 
proceeding  immediately  from  the  people,  would  na 
turally  claim  and  exercise  an  overruling  influence. 
It  would  only  not  seek  to  encroach  upon  the  Exe 
cutive  and  the  Judiciary  when  those  departments 
acted  in  harmony  with  it,  or  when  it  ceased  to  re 
flect  perfectly  tire  opinions  of  the  people.  When 
the  Executive  was  its  obedient  instrument  it  would 
be  satisfied  with  its  position.  But  at  other  times  it 
would  refuse  to  be  bound  by  "  checks"  and  "balances" 
which  were  not  found  within  itself — which  it  did  not 
expressly  make  or  accept.  President  Johnson,  in  his 
difficulties  with  Congress,  laid  much  stress  upon  the 
opinions  of  eminent  authorities  that  there  was  more 
to  be  feared  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Legislative 
than  from  the  ambition  of  the  Executive,  for  the 
latter  power  was  confined  within  set  limits,  while 
the  former  was  left  almost  without  restraint.16  He 
found  himself  stultified  at  every  turn,  and  unable  to 
give  the  slightest  weight  to  his  own  opinions.  And 


16  '  Federalist,'  No.  48.  See  also  the  papers  of  Hamilton  in  the 
'  Federalist,'  Nos.  72,  73. 

16  See  the  Veto  of  the  Negro  Suffrage  Bill  in  the  district  of 
Columbia,  '  Congressional  Globe,'  Jrfii.  8,  18G7. 


78  THE    LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

putting  the  situation  in  which  he  was  actually  placed 
as  if  it  were  merely  a  hypothetical  situation,  he  wrote, 
"  This  would  be  a  practical  concentration  of  all  power 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — this,  in  the 
language  of  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  would  be  '  precisely  the  definition  of  despotic 
government.' "  But  it  is  chiefly  in  critical  periods, 
when  the  very  safety  of  the  nation  appears  to  be 
endangered,  or  when  some  great  principles  precious 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people  seem  about  to  be  sacri 
ficed,  that  Congress  can  obtain,  and  still  less  keep, 
this  extraordinary  monopoly  of  power.  The  convic 
tions  of  the  people  must  be  deeply  stirred  before 
they  will,  by  repeated  elections,  justify  the  virtual 
suppression  of  a  most  important  department  of  the 
government.  They  must  distrust  the  intentions  of 
the  Executive  with  regard  to  a  policy  of  vital  con 
sequence  to  the  Republic  before  they  virtually  de 
pose  him.  In  the  time  of  Jackson  the  Executive 
made  encroachments  upon  the  Legislative  which 
might  well  have  excited  alarm,  but  the  true  balance 
was  not  restored  because  the  people  did  not  inter 
fere.  They  were  content  to  let  things  take  their 
course.  But  after  the  civil  war,  issues  too  momen 
tous  were  at  stake  to  permit  of  their  remaining  in 
different  or  passive  spectators.  They  saw,  or  imagined 
that  they  saw,  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
Executive  to  make  another  of  those  "  compromises  " 
which  a  disastrous  experience  had  rendered  inex 
pressibly  hateful  to  thent;  The  slavery  question  had 


CHAP.  V.        CONGRESSIONAL    POWER   WITHOUT    A   LIMIT.  79 

been  nursed  by  compromises  until  a  peaceable  solu 
tion  of  it  became  impossible,  and  between  1865-67 
it  seemed  that  the  President  had  resolved  to  restore 
political  power  to  the  enemies  of  the  government 
before  it  had  well  recovered  from  the  shock  which 
they  had  administered.  Hence,  Congress  gradually 
found  itself  in  the  possession  of  an  authority  which 
it  had  never  exercised  before,  and  whicli  the  States 
that  originally  went  into  the  Union  would  certainly 
never  have  consented  to  confer  upon  it.  It  did  not 
assume  anything  more  than  the  people  then  recog 
nised  to  be  in  the  Union  gave  it.  It  did  not  even, 
at  the  outset  of  the  struggle,  invade  the  province 
of  the  Executive.  The  President  had  it  within  his 
discretion  to  place  a  veto  upon  the  acts  of  the  Legis- 
tive,  but  the  people  had  sent  to  that  body  a  majority 
of  two-thirds  against  him.  He  used  the  privilege 
which  the  Constitution  gave  him,  and  the  people 
rendered  it  nugatory  by  the  means  whicli  the  Con 
stitution  had  prescribed.  To  argue  that  under  such 
circumstances  Congress  is  a  "  despotism  "  is  the  same 
as  to  argue  that  the  will  of  the  people  is  a  despotism  ; 
and  that  would  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of  He- 
publican  governments,  whatever  the  abstract  truth 
may  be.  The  citizens  of  other  countries  may  see  good 
reasons  why  they  should  not  desire  a  rule  based  upon 
the  will  of  varying  and  capricious  majorities,  but 
such  a  rule  was  voluntarily  chosen,  and  is  tenaciously 
clung  to,  by  the  people  of  America.  They  must  abide 
by  it,  or  change  their  form  of  government  altogether. 


80  THE   LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

The  argument  which  was  used  in  the  Senate 17  against 
the  President's  assertions  affecting  Congress  is  un 
answerable: — "The  recent  acts  of  Congress,  those 
acts  upon  which  the  President  and  Congress  sepa 
rated,  were  submitted  to  the  people,  and  after  a  very 
full  canvass  and  a  very  able  one,  in  which  great  num 
bers  of  speeches  were  made  on  both  sides,  and  docu 
ments  were  circulated,  the  people,  who  are  the  common 
masters  of  President  and  Congress,  decided  in  favour 
of  Congress.  Unless,  therefore,  there  is  an  inherent 
danger  from  a  republican  government,  resting  solely 
upon  the  will  of  the  people,  there  is  no  occasion  for 
the  warning  of  the  President.  Unless  the  judgment 
of  one  man  is  better  than  the  combined  judgment  of  a 
great  majority,  he  should  have  respected  their  decision, 
and  not  continued  a  controversy  in  which  our  common 
constituency  have  decided  that  he  was  wrong." 

This  passage  is  not  only  a  auccinct  commentary 
upon  the  powers  of  Congress,  but  it  embodies  an 
accurate  description  of  the  latest  phase  of  Republic 
anism.  It  is  manifest  from  their  writings,  and  from 
the  debates  in  the  Convention  of  1787,  that  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  never  expressly  intended  to  give 
the  supreme  power  to  Congress.  But  this  only  shows 
that  they  failed  to  see  whither  republican  principles 
would  lead.  They  did  not  make  sufficient  allowance 
for  the  invincible  force  of  popular  opinion  in  a  demo 
cracy.  They  thought  to  erect  barriers  between  the 
will  of  the  masses  and  the  powers  of  government, 


17  By  Senator  Sherman,  '  Congressional  Globe,'  Jan.  8th,  1867. 


CHAP.  V.  THE   FAILURE   OF    REPRESENTATION.  81 

but  these  barriers  fell  down  at  a  touch.  It  was  only 
a  qualified  democracy  which  the  originators  of  the 
American  system  wished  to  put  into  operation.18 
With  the  laws  of  the  mother  country,  they  wished  to 
preserve  some  infusion  of  the  spirit  of  its  civil  polity. 
But  when  everything  is  based  upon  the  will  of  the 
people  it  is  idle  to  think  of  controlling  that  will  by 
urging  reasons  which  appeal  only  to  minds  of  a  philo 
sophic  turn.  In  the  United  States  the  rule  of  the 
masses  has  constantly  grown  stronger,  and  it  must 
continue  to  grow,  and  therefore  it  would  be  well  for 
themselves  if  they  chose  as  the  instruments  of  their 
work  men  of  high  integrity  and  honour,  and  thus 
made  good  their  boast  that  they  enjoy  the  best  repre 
sentative  system  known  to  mankind. 

It  is  upon  this  latter  point  that  so  great  a  differ 
ence  of  opinion  exists  among  Americans  who  are  the 
most  deeply  attached  to  their  country  and  its  insti 
tutions.  It  is  seen  by  them  to  be  very  questionable 
whether  Congress  has  not  partially  failed  both  as 
a  representative  and  a  deliberative  body.  No  one 
can  affirm  that  either  property  or  intellect  is  ade 
quately  represented.  Webster  thought  that  political 
power  would  naturally  and  inevitably  pass  into  the 
hands  which  held  the  property,19  but  it  is  found  in 


18  Madison   disclaims   the  title  "Democracy,"'  and  expresses  his 
preference  for  the  word  "  Kepublicanism."     'Federalist,'  No.  10. 

19  Speech  on  "  Bu«is  of  the  Senate." — Works,,  iii.  p.  15.    The  same 
opinion  was  expressed  on  many  occasions  in  the  Philadelphia  Con 
vention  of  1787.     See  Elliot's  'Debates.' 

a 


82  THE   LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V 

practice  that  the  bulk  of  the  community,  which  is 
poor  or  of  but  moderate  means,  choose  men  of  their 
own  class  to  represent  them,  and  politicians  find  it 
to  their  advantage  to  study  the  wishes  of  this  class 
rather  than  of  any  other.  Even  in  journals  of  ex 
treme  republican  principles  it  is  not  uncommon  to 
find  this  fact  admitted  and  deplored.  "  Nobody,"  re 
marked  one  such  writer,  "  who  has  paid  much  atten 
tion  to  our  political  discussions  of  late  years,  both  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  can  have  avoided  being  struck 
by  the  general  tendency  to  exalt  and  glorify  the 
poor,  apparently  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  are 
poor,  and  in  a  corresponding  degree  to  depreciate 
*  the  rich ; '  and,  singularly  enough,  the  standard  of 
wealth  seems  to  be,  in  political  phraseology,  every 
year  sinking  lower  and  lower."20  In  large  cities 
men  of  property  or  culture  frequently  refrain  from 
exercising  their  right  of  suffrage,  either  because  they 
consider  the  candidates  unfit  to  go  into  Congress,  or 
because  they  know  that  their  votes  would  be  thrown 
away.  This  is  a  great  evil,  but  one  of  a  still  more 
serious  character  exists  in  the  absence  of  a  propor 
tionate  representation  of  the  minority  in  the  United 
States.  This  has  been  found  a  defect  which  it  has 
defied  the  ingenuity  of  statesmen  to  remove  in  other 
constitutional  countries,  but  there  are  peculiar  circum 
stances  arising  out  of  party  government  in  America 
which  render  it  there  unusually  mischievous.  As  we 


20  '  North  American  Review,'  Juiv,  1865. 


CHAP.  V  SUPPRESSION    OF    INDEPENDENT    OPINION.  83 

shall  see  hereafter,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  man 
of  independent  opinions  to  obtain  a  seat  in  Congress. 
He  must  be  "endorsed"  by  a  party,  and  slavishly 
adopt  all  the  views  of  that  party,  or  it  is  useless  for  him 
to  contest  an  election.  Should  any  accepted  member 
exhibit  an  opinion  of  his  own  in  opposition  to  the 
general  party,  he  is  practically  driven  out  of  its  ranks, 
he  is  assailed  on  all  sides  with  a  virulence  and  un- 
scrupulousness  unknown  elsewhere,  he  inevitably  fails 
to  receive  a  future  nomination,  and  thus  he  loses  the 
next  election.  Within  the  walls  of  the  Legislature 
every  voice  is  raised  against  him,  and  outside  he 
has  to  confront  the  unprincipled  assaults  of  the 
combined  agents  of  a  faction.  Few  public  men  in 
America  can  long  contend  in  so  unequal  a  struggle. 
Thus  the  power  of  Congress  is  securely  concentrated 
in  the  hands  of  the  leaders  of  the  dominant  party  of 
the  hour,  who  may  be  so  actuated  by  personal  ambi 
tion,  or  other  unworthy  motives,  as  to  render  them 
altogether  unsafe  guides  for  the  nation.  The  dis 
cussions  of  this  conclave  are  carried  on  in  secret,  and 
the  mockery  of  a  deliberative  assembly  is  made  com 
plete  by  the  systematic  refusal  to  allow  of  full  debate 
upon  measures  of  the  most  momentous  description. 
They  are  decided  upon  in  private  caucus,  for  reasons 
which  the  public  are  not  allowed  to  know  ;  and  when 
they  are  brought  forward  in  the  Legislature,  by  a 
form  of  the  House  of  Representatives  known  as  the 
"  previous  question,"  which  the  adherents  of  the  go^ 
verning  party  are  almost  always  numerous  enough 

0  2 


84  THE    LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V 

to  enforce,  discussion  is  absolutely  prevented.  Some 
times  no  one  is  allowed  to  say  a  word.  The  minority 
is  not  admitted  to  the  caucus,  and  in  the  House  a 
gag  is  placed  upon  their  mouths.  When  the  Civil 
Eights  Bill  was  passed  over  the  President's  veto  in 
April,  1866,  several  independent  members  begged 
hard  for  permission  to  discuss  it,  or  at  least  to 
explain  their  reasons  for  the  vote  they  intended  to 
give.  It  was  refused,  and  there  was  a  general  cry  in 
the  House  "  Give  an  hour ! "  but  the  leaders  were 
inexorable,  and  the  resolution  was  pressed  to  a  divi 
sion  in  less  than  ten  minutes  after  it  had  been  sent 
to  the  Speaker.  The  same  practice  \>as  afterwards 
adopted,  and  with  uniform  success.  It  is  true  that 
in  the  Senate  there  is  no  power  to  forbid  discussion, 
but  one  branch  of  the  Legislative,  and  that  the 
popular  branch,  submits  quietly  to  a  tyranny  which 
is  destructive  of  the  true  principles  of  a  legislative 
assembly,  and  a  betrayal  of  the  trust  confided  to  it 
by  the  people. 

Nearly  all  questions  of  domestic  policy  are  dis 
cussed  in  Congress  from  the  standpoint  of  local 
interests.  If  the  subject  of  protection  for  commerce 
and  manufactures  is  before  the  assembly,  each  mem 
ber  considers  it  as  it  affects  his  own  constituents,  and 
there  is  no  one  to  represent  the  general  interests  of 
the  nation.  Those  members  alone  speak  who  have 
local  objects  to  promote  ; 21  the  majority  are  ignorant 


21  A  member  of  Congress  must  almost  always  be  a.  resident  in  the 
district  which  lie  represents. 


Ciur.  V.  SUBSERVIENCE    OF    MEMBERS.  85 

of  the  subject,  and  the  two  years  for  which  they  are 
elected  is  too  short  a  time  to  enable  them  to  ac 
quaint  themselves  properly  with  it,  or  to  adopt 
fixed  and  settled  principles.  In  all  questions  which 
arise  it  is  the  recognised  system  for  members  to 
ascertain  what  their  constituents  wish,  not  to  study 
what  would  be  best  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
Republic.  An  English  member  of  Parliament  is 
supposed  to  be  alive  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  large 
class  besides  his  constituency  whom  it  is  his  duty  to 
represent.  There  are  occasions  when  he  feels  it 
incumbent  upon  him  to  represent  that  class,  rather 
than,  or  even  against,  his  own  constituency.  This 
standard  of  public  honour  is  rarely  indeed  exhibited 
in  America.  The  member  of  Congress  surrenders  all 
his  opinions  to  his  constituents.  He  says  what  they 
command  him  to  say,  no  more  and  no  less.  He  is  the 
slave  of  his  supporters  and  of  his  party.  Constantly 
one  may  hear  it  said  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
"  I  believe  this  measure  to  be  unwise,  but  my  con 
stituents  want  it  and  they  must  have  it.  What  is 
the  use  of  going  against  them  ?"22  Few  men  of  emi 
nent  ability  will  accept  a  seat  in  Congress  upon  such 
terms,  and  hence  the  lament  is  general  that  the  tone 
of  Congress  is  constantly  declining.  Men  of  character 
and  talents  will  not  barter  away  their  independence 
of  judgment  and  their  matured  convictions  for  the 


:"  Theoretically,  the  member  of  Congress  is  supposed  to  represent 
the  nation  (see  Story's  'Commentaries,'  sect.  587),  but  in  practice 
the  system  undoubtedly  prevails  which  is  described  in  the  text. 


80  THE   LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

doubtful  honour  of  becoming  the  mouthpiece  of  a 
tyrannical  faction  for  a  period  of  two  years.  The 
best  men  of  business,  the  men  of  wealth  and  leisure, 
the  cultivated  classes,  cannot  as  a  rule  be  prevailed 
upon  to  put  themselves  forward  as  candidates  for 
Congress.  The  natural  operation  of  the  suffrage  is 
partly  the  cause  of  this,  but  it  must  also  be  referred 
to  the  fact  that  political  life  in  America  is  not 
usually  an  object  of  ambition  with  the  well-informed 
classes.  The  independent  member  of  Congress  is 
not  always  allowed  to  state  his  opinions.  If  another 
Webster  or  Clay  appeared  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  he  would  probably  be  silenced  by  a  demand 
for  the  previous  question,  or  some  other  device  of 
the  majority  to  silence  discussion.  In  the  Reform 
debates  of  1865-67  in  the  English  Parliament, 
speeches  of  commanding  power  and  eloquence  were 
occasionally  delivered  against  the  popular  side.  In 
a  similar  condition  of  public  feeling  in  the  United 
States  there  is  scarcely  any  public  man  of  position 
who  would  dare  to  exercise  this  freedom  of  thought 
and  opinion.  There  he  must  go  with  the  tide  or  be 
washed  away.  And  hence  the  remark  made  by  an 
English  public  writer,  during  the  despotism  of  Con 
gress  in  1866,  was  profoundly  true  and  just — *'  It 
may  be  pronounced  an  absolute  impossibility  that 
a  man  like  the  late  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis, 
capable  of  seeing  two  sides  of  a  question,  should  be 
returned  to  Congress."  Or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
if  he  were  returned  it  would  be  because  his  consti- 


CIIAP.  V.         THE    ADVOCACY    OP    SECTIONAL    DIFFERENCES.         87 

tuents  had  not  detected  his  impartial  faculty,  and 
as  soon  as  they  did  perceive  it  they  would  turn  him 
out. 

What  we  find  represented  and  advocated  in  Con 
gress  are  sectional  differences  rather  than  broad  and 
comprehensive  principles  based  upon  considerations  of 
the  general  good  of  the  people.23  This  is  of  less  con 
sequence  in  America  than  it  would  be  in  England, 
since  the  States  by  their  own  laws  can  provide  for 
the  social  well-being  of  their  inhabitants.  They  can 
regulate  their  own  affairs,  and  place  the  means  of 
education  within  the  reach  of  all.  Except,  therefore, 
when  a  question  arises  which  affects  all  the  States, 
and  which  no  single  State,  or  number  of  States  less 
than  the  whole,  can  control,  it  is  not  important  that 
a  deputy  should  do  more  than  protect  the  interests 


23  In  the  New  York  Convention  which  assembled  to  ratify  the 
Constitution  Mr.  Hamilton  said, — "  In  my  experience  of  public 
affairs  I  have  constantly  remarked,  in  the  conduct  of  members  of 
Congress,  a  strong  and  uniform  attachment  to  the  interests  of  their 
own  State.  These  interests  have,  on  many  occasions,  been  adhered 
to  with  an  undue  and  illiberal  pertinacity,  and  have  too  often  been 
preferred  to  the  interests  of  the  Union.  This  attachment  has  given 
birth  to  an  unaccommodating  spirit  of  party  which  has  frequently 
embarrassed  the  best  measures."  —  (Elliot's  'Debates,'  ii.  266.) 
Hamilton  was,  in  some  respects,  a  man  of  greater  sagacity  and  fore 
sight  than  almost  any  of  his  contemporaries.  Few  besides  him 
self  acknowledged  that  there  was  anything  to  be  regretted  iti  the 
attachment  of  a  member  to  his  locality  regardless  of  the  interest  of 
the  Republic.  Talleyrand  told  Mr.  Martin  Van  Buren  that  "  he 
regarded  Hamilton  as  the  ablest  man  he  became  acquainted  with  in 
America — he  was  not  sure  that  he  might  not  add  without  injustice, 
or  that  he  had  known  in  Europe."— (See  Van  Buren 'a  'Political 
Parties,'  p.  124.) 


88  THE    LEGISLATIVE.  CHAP.  V. 

of  his  own  constituency.  But  when  a  crisis  does 
arise  which  requires  the  united  action  of  all  the 
members,  they  have  localities  so  much  in  mind  and 
the  welfare  of  the  community  so  little,  that  agree 
ment  can  only  be  arrived  at  by  that  device  which 
has  received  the  humourous  name  of  "log-rolling." 
One  member  votes  for  his  friend's  proposition  to-day 
upon  the  understanding  that  his  friend  will  return 
the  civility  to-morrow.  But  as  the  idea  of  a  "  nation  " 
grows  upon  the  people  sectional  affairs  will  be  more 
and  more  confined  to  State  Legislatures.  And  as  a 
natural  consequence,  power  will  accumulate  in  the 
hands  of  Congress,  and  the  States  must  sacrifice 
some  portion  of  their  former  functions  in  order  that 
they  may  be  welded  together  in  a  solid  body,  and 
thus  reveal  an  unbroken  front  to  the  rest  of  the 
world. 


CHAP.  VL  THE   JUDICIABY.  89 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   JUDICIARY. 

THE  absence  of  a  well-organised  judicial  power  in  the 
old  Confederation  was  one  of  its  most  obvious  defects. 
There  was  no  supreme  tribunal  to  which  questions 
arising  between  States,  or  affecting  the  construction 
of  treaties,  could  be  referred.  Each  State  inter 
preted  as  it  pleased  a  compact  which  assumed  to  be 
binding  upon  all.  The  derangement  of  public  affairs 
which  such  a  want  of  system  produced  may  easily 
be  imagined.  There  was  no  certainty  that  an  ar 
rangement  entered  into  between  the  States  would  be 
honourably  observed,  because,  when  any  of  the 
parties  to  it  became  dissatisfied,  it  was  easy  to  put  a 
new  construction  upon  the  agreement,  and  there 
was  no  recognised  authority  by  which  the  dispute 
could  be  adjusted.  This  deficiency  must  have  been 
a  constant  source  of  inconvenience  and  embarrass 
ment  to  each  of  the  members  in  turn.  "  The  treaties 
of  the  United  States,"  said  Hamilton,  "  under  the 
present  Constitution  are  liable  to  the  infi action  of 
thirteen  different  Legislatures,  and  as  many  different 
courts  of  final  jurisdiction,  acting  under  the  authority 


90  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  VI. 

of  those  Legislatures." l  The  result  was  that  nothing 
was  settled — nothing  secured.  A  covenant  was  only 
binding  so  long  as  every  State  chose  to  acknowledge 
its  validity. 

To  remedy  these  inconveniences  a  Supreme  Court 
was  established  by  the  Constitution,  and  authority 
was  given  to  Congress  to  create  inferior  courts  from 
time  to  time  as  occasion  demanded.2  In  each  State 
there  exist  courts  intrusted  with  the  administration 
of  the  local,  or  State,  laws,  and  a  Supreme  Court  is 
established  over  all.  The  State  tribunals  decide  a 
cause  in  the  first  instance,  and  if  it  involves  a  question 
which  comes  within  the  province  of  the  Federal 
Supreme  Court  it  may  be  carried  there  upon  appeal. 
The  system  works  in  a  circle — the  State  Courts,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  to  decide  appeals,  and 
the  Federal  Supreme  Court,  which  is  clad  with  the 
exclusive  authority  to  pronounce  final  judgment  on 
all  questions  affecting  the  Constitution,  the  construc 
tion  of  laws,  the  interpretation  of  treaties,  and  other 
subjects  expressly  designated  in  the  Constitution 
itself.  In  the  appointment  of  the  State  judges  the 
principle  of  conferring  office  for  a  short  period  only 
is  adopted,  and  thus  the  control  of  the  Bench  has 
practically  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  majority.  In 
vain  the  thoughtful  class  of  Americans  have  warned 
their  countrymen  against  the  mischiefs  which  must 
accrue  from  this  degradation  of  the  judicial  office. 


•Federalist,'  No.  22.  2  Art.  III.  sec.  1. 


CHAP.  VI.  THE    PLAN    OF   ELECTING   JUDGES.  91 

The  judges,  it  is  contended,  should  be  the  servants 
of  the  people,  and  remain  subject  to  their  supervision 
and  control.  In  the  state  of  New  York  the  election 
of  judges  by  universal  suffrage  has  created  a  scandal 
which  is  keenly  felt  by  the  nation.  With  some 
honourable  exceptions,  the  judges  in  the  State,  but 
especially  in  the  city,  are  notoriously  corrupt  or 
incapable,  and  owe  their  election  to  the  very  class 
against  which  the  protection  of  the  law  is  most 
needed  by  peaceable  citizens.  The  most  shameful 
offences  are  constantly  committed  by  men  placed 
upon  the  Bench  by  the  popular  vote.  They  listen 
privately  to  one  or  other  of  the  suitors  in  a  case 
which  is  afterwards  to  be  brought  before  them,  and 
openly  take  bribes  for  their  decisions.  It  was  well 
known  that  one  judge  received  ten  thousand  dollars 
for  giving  judgment  in  a  case,  and  he  still  remained 
upon  the  Bench.  Their  language  is  sometimes  coarse 
and  profane  to  the  last  degree.  "If,"  remarks  an 
American  writer,  "  we  were  to  relate  half  the 
rumours  which  are  afloat,  and  which  are  fully 
credited,  too,  by  the  most  intelligent  and  discreet 
members  of  the  bar,  we  should  draw  a  picture  as 
appalling  as  anything  to  be  found  in  the  books  of 
the  prophets  Amos  and  Micah."3 


3  See  the  'North  American  Keview,'  for  July,  1867  (pp.  148-176), 
where  any  one  interested  in  this  subject  may  find  a  story  of  corrup 
tion  unparalleled  in  the  modern  judicial  annals  of  any  country.  The 
statements  made  by  the  writer,  although  they  so  seriously  affected 
the  character  of  many  judges,  were  never  contradicted  in  New 


92  THE    JUDICIARY.  CHA.P.  VI. 

Since  each  State  has  the  power  to  make  laws  for 
itself,  it  follows  that  there  is  no  uniformity  in  the 
measures  adopted  for  the  punishment  of  crime  or 
the  regulation  of  society.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
law  relating  to  divorce.  In  some  States  there  must 
not  only  be  a  judicial  investigation  and  decision,  but 
the  assent  of  two-thirds  of  each  branch  of  the  Legis 
lature  is  necessary  to  make  a  decree  lawful.  In 
South  Carolina  no  divorce  has  ever  been  granted, 
"  so  strict  and  scrupulous,"  as  Mr.  Justice  Kent  says 
has  been  the  policy  of  the  State  in  relation  to 
marriage.  Some  of  the  newer  States  go  to  the  other 
extreme.  In  Kentucky,  if  the  wife  leaves  her 
husband  for  one  year  a  divorce  is  granted,  and  it 
frequently  happens  that  married  persons  wishing  to 
be  separated  go  to  that  State  and  live  apart  by 
mutual  agreement,  and  so  obtain  a  divorce  upon  easy 
terms.  In  Indiana  and  Missouri  abandonment  by 
either  party  for  two  years  is  a  sufficient  ground  for 
divorce,  and '  the  extraordinary  discretion  is  also 
allowed  to  the  court  of  granting  a  divorce  upon  any 
pretext  which  it  may  deem  "  reasonable  and  proper." 
In  Tennessee  the  wilful  absence  of  husband  or  wife 
for  two  years  secures  the  divorce.  In  the  laws  of 
New  Hampshire  there  is  the  curious  provision  that 
if  the  husband  joins  the  society  known  as  "the 
Shakers,"  and  remains  in  it  for  three  years,  his  wife 
can  obtain  judicial  separation.  In  Ohio  habitual 

York.    Every  one  admitted  the  facts,  but  many  deprecated  their 
publication,  upon  the  ground  that  it  "  could  do  no  good." 


CHAP.  VI.  VARIOUS    LAWS    IN    STATES.  93 

drunkenness  for  three  years  is  held  to  be  sufficient 
cause  for  granting  a  decree,  and  the  same  law  exists 
in  Maine.  But  Kentucky  is  the  most  lax  in  her 
marriage  laws.  Besides  the  ground  of  divorce 
already  stated,  she  provides  that  divorce  may  be 
allowed  if  the  jury  find  "that  either  party  has  un 
necessarily  exposed,  in  a  public  paper,  the  other  to 
public  notoriety  and  reproach  for  alleged  abandon 
ment,"  or  "  by  other  unnecessary  and  cruel  conduct 
endeavoured  to  disgrace  the  same."  These  laws 
were  made  in  1850.  In  some  of  the  States  the  pro 
portion  of  divorces  to  marriages  is  said  to  reach 
thirty  per  cent. 

The  laws  relating  to  the  inheritance  or  transfer  of 
land  vary  in  a  similar  manner,  and  it  has  been 
stated  by  an  American  jurist  that  there  is  no  general 
law  of  descents  in  the  country.  To  cite  a  few 
examples  of  this  diversity  :  in  many  of  the  States  it 
is  the  law  that,  "  if  the  owner  of  lands  dies  without 
lawful  descendants,  leaving  parents,  the  inheritance 
shall  ascend  to  them."4  In  Vermont  the  widow, 
there  being  no  children,  takes  half  the  estate,  and 
the  father  of  the  deceased  the  other  half.  In  Massa 
chusetts  and  Arkansas  the  estate  devolves  to  the 
father.  In  Louisiana  a  moiety  of  the  estate  of  an 
intestate,  in  default  of  issue,  goes  to  the  father  and 
mother,  and  the  remainder  to  the  brothers  and 
sisters  and  their  descendants.  Most  of  the  other 


Kent,  p.  431, 


94:  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  VL 

States  have  adopted  the  principle  of  giving  parents 
the  right  of  succession  to  the  property  of  their 
children  dying  intestate.  Estates  tail  existed  in 
America  until  the  Revolution,  but  they  were  gradu 
ally  abolished  by  the  different  States,  and  converted 
into  fees  simple.  In  New  York,  as  Kent  informs  us, 
"the  power  of  protracting  the  period  of  alienation 
has  been  restricted  to  two  successive  estates  for  life, 
limited  to  the  lives  of  two  persons  in  being  at  the 
creation  of  the  estate."5 

The  composition  of  the  Federal  Judiciary  was  a 
labour  of  great  anxiety  to  the  Convention  of  1787, 
and  to  the  subsequent  State  Conventions.  Should 
the  judicial  power  be  merged  in  the  Legislature  or  be 
left  distinct  ?  Should  the  Judiciary  be  privileged  to 
annul  laws?  How  should  the  judges  be  appointed? 
These  and  many  other  questions  were  discussed  with 
great  patience  and  ability,  until  it  seemed  that 
every  possible  ramification,  of  the  subject  had  been 
thoroughly  explored.  Among  other  propositions 
brought  forward  there  was  one  to  place  the  power 
of  appointing  judges  in  the  Legislature.  This  was 
earnestly  opposed  by  several  members,  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  give  rise  to  intrigue  and  partiality. 
One  member  reminded  the  Convention  that  a  prin 
cipal  reason  for  insisting  on  unity  in  the  Executive 
"  was  that  officers  might  be  appointed  by  a  single 
responsible  person."6  Mr.  Madison  suggested  as  a 


•  Kent,  p.  17.  6  Madison's  '  Reports,'  p.  155. 


ClLVP.  VI.  THE   FEDERAL   JUDICIARY.  95 

compromise  that  the  appointing  power  should  rest 
with  the  Senate,  arid  for  some  time  the  Conven 
tion  remained  undecided  in  their  choice  between  the 
Executive  and  the  Senate.  Eventually  it  was  re 
solved  that  the  appointments  should  be  made  by  the 
President,  subject  to  the  approval  and  confirmation 
of  the  Senate.  In  this  state  the  law  still  remains, 
and  when  judges  are  once  appointed  they  remain  in 
office  during  good  behaviour ;  that  is,  they  can  be 
removed  only  by  impeachment.  But,  as  has  been 
described  with  reference  to  New  York,  the  State 
courts  are  regulated  according  to  the  will  of  the 
people.  In  two  States  the  judges,  even  of  the 
Supreme  Courts,  are  annually  elected  by  ballot ;  in 
most  others  the  office  is  given  for  a  limited  period 
only.7  The  Federal  Supreme  Court  consists  of  a 
Chief  Justice  and  eight  associate  judges,  five  of  whom 
form  a  quorum.  It  meets  simultaneously  with  the 
regular  Session  of  Congress,  on  the  first  Monday  in 
every  December,  and  holds  its  sittings  at  Washing 
ton.  One  of  the  judges,  conjointly  with  a  district 
iudge,  holds  two  courts  a  year  in  each  of  the  nine 
circuits  into  which  the  country  is  divided,  and  these 
are  called  Circuit  Courts.8  In  a  strictly  judicial 
capacity  the  State  courts  are  thrown  into  more 
direct  connexion  with  the  social  life  of  the  people 
than  the  Supreme  Court,  which  only  occupies  itself 
with  the  highest  range  of  questions. 

'  ISee  Kent's  '  Commentaries,'  i.,  note  to  p.  309. 
8  Ibid.  Leet.  xiv. 


96  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP- VI. 

The  third  department  of  the  government  was  de 
signed  to  act  as  a  check  or  counterpoise  to  the  other 
two.  The  maintenance  of  the  Constitution,  and  the 
protection  of  all  lawful  rights,  were  objects  confined 
to  the  Judiciary,  and  it  was  thought  that  it  was 
armed  with  ample  powers  to  make  its  authority 
respected,  and  to  guard  against  encroachment  upon 
its  functions.  On  this  point  it  is  not  possible  that 
there  can  be  a  difference  of  opinion.  The  words  of 
the  authorities,  early  and  late,  are  not  to  be  mis 
understood.  The  Federalist  took  pains  to  point  out 
the  importance  of  preserving  "the  complete  in 
dependence  of  the  courts  of  justice."9  The  Con 
vention  was  unanimously  of  this  view,  and  Wash 
ington  declared  that  the  Judiciary  was  the  chief 
pillar  on  which  the  national  government  must  rest.10 
"  I  cannot,"  says  Chancellor  Kent,  "  conceive  of  any 
thing  more  grand  and  imposing  in  the  whole  ad 
ministration  of  human  justice  than  fhe  spectacle 
of  the  Supreme  Court  sitting  in  solemn  judgment' 
upon  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  national  and  State 
sovereignties,  and  tranquillising  all  jealous  and  angry 
passions,  and  binding  together  this  great  confederacy 
of  States  in  peace  and  harmony,  by  the  ability,  the 
moderation,  and  the  equity  of  its  decisions."11  And 
concerning  the  State  courts  he  remarks,  "  The  true 
interests  and  the  permanent  freedom  of  this  country 


»  No.  78. 

10  Sparks'  '  Writings  of  Washington,'  vol.  x.,  pp.  35.  86. 

11  '  Commentaries,'  i.  p.  482.     (Lect,  xix.) 


CHAP.  VI  INNOVATIONS    OF    CONGRESS.  97 

require  that  the  jurisprudence  of  the  individual 
States  should  be  cultivated,  cherished,  and  exalted, 
and  the  dignity  and  reputation  of  the  State  autho 
rities  sustained  with  becoming  pride."  Y2> 

These  opinions,  although  of  a  nature  to  recom 
mend  themselves  to  every  generation,  seem  to  be  now 
abandoned.  Congress  has  swept  away  by  its  own  fiat 
the  whole  Judiciary  system  of  ten  States,  and  thus 
established  a  precedent  which  must  produce  incalcu 
lable  mischief  hereafter.  The  most  eminent  lawyers 
of  the  day  protested  against  this  rash  measure,  but  no 
one  listened  to  them.  Congress  had  ordered  it,  and 
the  people  do  not  appear  to  have  given  their  at 
tention  to  it  sufficiently  to  discern  its  extreme  import 
ance.  The  act  was  the  more  to  be  deplored  because 
there  was  no  necessity ^ for  it.  The  general  govern 
ment  could  have  been  securely  protected  against 
treason  and  traitors  without  the  abolition  of  all  local 
courts  of  justice  in  disaffected  States.  The  Federal 
Judiciary  itself  was  unable  to  stand  before  the  pres 
sure  of  the  Legislative.  It  could  not  be  greater 
than  the  people.  It  could  not  prevent  laws  being 
passed ;  and  although  it  might  declare  those  laws 
to  be  unconstitutional,  it  had  no  power  to  enforce 
its  decrees.  The  people,  if  they  were  inclined  to 
disregard  the  Constitution,  could  not  be  restrained 
by  any  action  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Prior  even 
to  the  civil  war,  but  repeatedly  since,  the  decisions 


13  Ibid.   p.   483.      See  also    Story,   '  Commentaries,'    Book  III. 
chapter  iv. 

H 


98  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  VL 

of  the  court  upon  constitutional  questions  have  pro 
duced  no  effect  whatever  on  either  Congress  or  the 
people.  The  Dred  Scott  decision  was  technically 
law  until  slavery  was  abolished  by  a  constitutional 
amendment,  but  as  a  general  rule  it  was  disregarded. 
In  1866  the  Supreme  Court  decided  that  military 
tribunals  were  unlawful,13  and  the  government  of  the 
South  was  afterwards  made  one  great  military  tri 
bunal,  the  Generals  in  command  of  the  States  being 
empowered  to  remove  judges  and  all  civil  officers  at 
their  pleasure.  In  another  case  brought  before  the 
Supreme  Court  it  was  decided  that  the  application  of 
a  test  oath  of  the  State  of  Missouri  was  in  contraven 
tion  of  the  clause  in  the  Constitution,  which  provides 
"that  no  State  shall  pass  any  bill  of  attainder"  or 
"  ex  post  facto  law  ;  "  and  yet  test  oaths,  of  a  retro 
spective  and  most  rigorous  character,  were  after 
wards  applied  to  all  persons  who  presented  them 
selves  at  the  polls  in  the  Southern  States.  What 
could  the  Supreme  Court  do  but  stand  helplessly  on 
one  side  and  look  on  at  the  miscarriage  of  its  de 
cisions?  Until  a  "case''  was  brought  before  it  there 
was  no  opportunity  even  to  make  its  voice  heard, 
and  after  that  it  had  no  means  of  exacting  obedi 
ence.  Like  all  other  institutions,  it  stood  at  the 
mercy  of  the  majority.  It  had  no  resources  to  draw 
upon  unless  the  •  people  came  resolutely  to  its  sup 
port,  and  sent  representatives  to  Congress  who  were 


13  Case,  ex  parte  Lambclin  v.  Milligan  et  al. 

\ 


CHAP.  VI.  THE    NECESSITY    OF    A    FREE    JUDICIARY.  99 

pledged  to  restore  it  to  its  theoretical  position  in  the 
Government.  Mr.  Justice  Story  was  strongly  of 
opinion  that  the  Supreme  Court  was  not  bound  to 
observe  the  rescripts  of  the  majority,  and  that  the 
common  sense  of  the  people  would  always  lead  them 
to  prevent  the  Legislature  from  tampering  with  the 
Constitution.  Would  not  a  contrary  course,  he 
asked,  "make  the  Constitution  an  instrument  of 
flexible  and  changeable  interpretation,  and  not  a 
settled  form  of  government  with  fixed  limitations? 
Would  it  not  become,  instead  of  a  supreme  law  for 
ourselves  and  our  posterity,  a  mere  oracle  of  the 
powers  of  the  rulers  of  the  day,  to  which  implicit 
homage  is  to  be  paid,  and  speaking  at  different  times 
the  most  opposite  commands,  and  in  the  most  am 
biguous  voices?"14  It  would  not  be  possible  to  bor 
row  language  which  described  with  greater  accuracy 
and  fidelity  the  Constitution  and  the  Judiciary  as 
they  are.  Story  thought  he  was  picturing  a  state 
of  things  which  could  never  be  witnessed  in  his^ 
country,  whereas  he  but  anticipated  the  inevitable 
changes  which  were  impending  over  the  method  of 
government  he  was  so  anxious  to  defend. 

The  falsification  of  all  statements  and  speculations 
concerning  the  Judiciary  was  precipitated  by  the 
civil  war,  and  this  consideration  renders  some  of 
M.  de  Tocqueville's  assertions  at  least  comprehensible. 
The  judges,  he  declares,  are  invested  with  "  immense 


14  'Commentaries,'  ii.  p.  462. 

H   2 


100  THE    JUDICIARY —  CHAP. 

political  power."  "  The  Americans  have  acknow 
ledged  the  right  of  the  judges  to  found  their  de 
cisions  on  the  Constitution  rather  than  on  the  laws. 
In  other  words,  they  have  not  permitted  them  to 
apply  such  laws  as  may  appear  to  them  to  be  uncon 
stitutional."15  So  far  from  this  being  the  case,  we 
find  that  the  people  practically  compel  the  Supreme 
Court  to  apply  laws  which  it  has  pronounced  uncon 
stitutional.  The  Legislature  first  passes  such  laws, 
the  people  support  the  Legislature,  and  the  Govern 
ment  is  obliged  to  see  that  the  laws  are  carried  into 
execution.  The  Supreme  Court  simply  sits  upon  the 
Bench  uttering  protests  which  no  one  heeds,  while 
the  unconstitutional  measures  are  being  enforced 
out  of  doors.  M.  de  Tocqueville  affirms  that  "  not 
a  party,  not  so  much  as  an  individual,  is  found  to 
contest"  the  authority  which  he  ascribes  to  the 
Supreme  Court.  This  is  one  of  the  positive  state 
ments  which  startle  and  confound  those  who  have 
Jjeen  accustomed  to  place  dependence  on  M.  de 
Tocqueville's  work.  The  strong  party  in  the  United 
States  has  always  been  opposed  to  the  Judiciary,  and 
since  the  rebellion  the  ruling  party  has  systematic 
ally  repudiated  all  the  claims  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
They  even  threatened  to  "  revolutionise  "  it  if  it  con 
tinued  refractory  and  obstinate — that  is,  if  it  adhered 
to  the  principles  laid  down  for  its  guidance  in  the 
Constitution.  And  they  might  at  any  time  fulfil  this 


J*  Vol.  i  chapter  vi.  p.  125.    (Tome  i.  p.  166. ) 


.  VI.  ITS    HELPLESSNESS.  101 


menace  by  increasing  the  number  of  judges,  and  then 
refusing  to  confirm  the  appointment  of  any  but  those 
of  their  own  opinions.  The  controlling  and  arresting 
force  which  De  Tocqueville  detected  in  the  construc 
tion  of  the  Supreme  Qourt,  was  a  fiction  which  he 
invented  or  imagined  to  perfect  the  general  harmony 
of  his  theory.  "  The  power,"  he  remarks,  "  vested 
in  the  American  Courts  of  Justice,  of  pronouncing  a 
statute  to  be  unconstitutional,  forms  one  of  tjje  most 
powerful  barriers  which  has  ever  been  devised  against 
the  tyranny  of  political  assemblies."16  He  did  riot  see 
that  there  was  nothing  behind  the  barrier  to  support 
it,  and  that  consequently  it  was  doomed  to  disappear 
before  a  breath  of  popular  will.  It  did  not  need  the 
extraordinary  acuteness  with  which  M.  de  Tocqueville 
lias  been  credited  to  perceive  that  the  "  tyranny  of  a 
political  assembly  "  might  easily  be  irresistible  when 
exercised  against  a  power  which  was  nothing  in  itself, 
and  which  derived  all  its  vitality  from  the  concurrence 
of  that  very  assembly.  While  the  Judiciary  was 
unopposed  it  was  supreme  ;  when  it  was  reduced 
to  act  on  the  defensive  all  its  power  and  majesty 
disappeared. 

"  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,"  ob 
serves  M.  de  Tocqueville  in  another  portion  of  his 
work,  '•'  is  the  sole  tribunal  of  the  nation."  He  forgot 
that  its  favourite  tribunal  is  itself.  Through  the 
Legislature  the  people  make  known  their  wishes, 


w  Vol.  i.  chap,  vi.  pp.  129-30.     (Tome  i.  p.  172.) 


102  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  VI. 

and  to  those  wishes  the  Executive  and  Judiciary,  be 
ing  entirely  unarmed,  must  always  succumb.  "  The 
very  existence  of  the  Union,"  says  M.  de  Tocqueyille, 
"  is  vested  in  the  hands  of  the  seven  Federal  judges." 
What  could  they  do  for  the.  Union  when  it  was 
assailed  by  the  South  ?  "  The  Executive,"  he  fur 
ther  states,  "  appeals  to  them  (the  judges)  for  assist 
ance  against  the  encroachments  of  the  Legislative."  n 
And  wlien  it  does — as  it  did  between  1865  and  1867 
—what  assistance  can  the  judges  render?  They 
may  decide  that  the  Executive  is  right,  but,  if  the 
nation  say  that  he  is  wrong,  which  will  be  likely  to 
have  its  own  way? — the  people  who  have  control 
over  the  physical  arm,  or  the  Executive  who  is  help 
less  whenever  he  alienates  from  his  side  the  govern 
ing  party  ?  De  Tocqueville  did  indeed  foresee  that 
circumstances  might  arise  which  would  overset  his 
theories.  He  admitted  that  the  judges  "would  be 
impotent  against  popular  neglect  or  contempt  of 
the  law."  But  when  he  allowed  that  such  an  event 
might  happen  he  contradicted  every  statement 
which  he  had  advanced,  and  every  inference  which 
he  had  drawn,  with  respect  to  the  place  in  the 
government  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  reasoned 
from  abstract  principles,  or  from  his  own  ideal  of 
the  American  Republic,  and  these  were  constantly  in 
conflict  with  his  experience. 

The  momentous  crisis  of  the  last  few  years,  which 


Vol.  i.  p.  191.     (Tome  i.  p.  252). 


CHAP.  VI.      PAUTY  CONTKOL  OVEU  THE  JUDGES.         1U3 

produced  so  ID  any  vital  changes  in  the  structure  of 
the  government,  left  the  Judiciary  stripped  of  its 
most  precious  prerogatives.  If  Chancellor  Kent 
were  living  to  revise  his  lectures,  he  would  feel 
himself  constrained  to  omit  that  passage  in  which 
he  says, — "There  can  be  no  doubt  upon  the  point 
with  us,  that  every  act  of  the  legislative  power, 
contrary  to  the  true  interest  and  meaning  of  the 
Constitution,  is  absolutely  null  and  void."18  No 
one  pretended  that  the  measures  passed  by  Congress 
after  the  South  laid  down  its  arms  were  in  accord 
ance  even  with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  while 
almost  all  acknowledged  that  they  openly  violated 
its  letter.  The  party  which  introduced  those  mea 
sures,  justified  them  upon-  the  ground  that  an  emer 
gency  had  arisen  which  was  sufficient  to  call  a  power 
into  existence  greater  than  that  of  the  Constitution. 
Congress  prescribed  the  terms  of  suffrage  for  all  the 
Southern  States,  although  the  Constitution  is  express 
in  declaring  that  this  was  a  question  which  for  all 
future  time  every  State  should  be  left  to  determine 
for  itself.  It  took  away  from  the  States  the  power 
of  appointing  their  own  civil  officers,  and  excluded 
the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  entirely  from  the  suffrage. 
It  enfranchised  the  blacks,  and  disfranchised  the 
whites.  These  and  many  similar  acts  were  defended 
on  the  ground  of  necessity  or  expediency,  or  upon 
the  plea  that  the  insurgent  States  had  forfeited  their 


18  'Commentaries,'  Part  III.  Lect.  xx,  p.  486,  vol.  i. 


104:  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  VL 

former  rights  under  the  Union;  but  the  Constitu 
tion  gave  no  warrant  for  such  an  exercise  of  legis 
lative  responsibility.  Had  its  dictates  been  heeded, 
it  would  have  placed,  as  it  was  intended  to  do,  a 
restraint  upon  that  power  which  was  aiming  to 
destroy  States,  whose  inviolability  had  been  gua 
ranteed  by  the  most  solemn  compact  ever  entered 
into  between  men.  Had  the  Supreme  Court  been 
moved,  it  must  have  pronounced  judgment  on  these 
laws  according  to  the  teaching  of  the  Constitution 
alone ;  it  would  have  declared  them  null  and  void, 
and  beyond  this  it  could  do  nothing.  Whenever  it 
decided  against  a  popular  measure  it  discredited 
itself  by  an  impotent  display  of  authority.  Any  one 
who  examines  closely  into  the  history  of  the  war 
and  of  subsequent  events,  will  be  astonished  at  the 
small  and  despised  part  which  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  intended  source  of  the  reserved  power  of  the 
.Republic,  played  throughout.  The  founders  of  the 
Constitution  would  have  predicated  that  it  would 
have  acted  as  the  great  peacemaker  after  the  war 
— allaying  animosities  and  extinguishing  jealousies, 
tempering  the  excesses  of  the  Victorious,  and  soften 
ing  the  humiliations  of  the  vanquished  party.  This 
was  the  province  it  would  have  fulfilled  had  it  been 
true  to  the  theory  of  its  construction,  or  had  it 
realised  the  expectations  of  later  writers.  Chancellor 
Kent  looked  to  the  Supreme  Court,  ''venerable  by 
its  gravity,  its  dignity,  and  its  wisdom,"  as  an  unfail 
ing  safeguard  against  the  tyranny  of  majorities,  and 


CHAP.  VI.          THE    CONGRESSIONAL    MAJORITY    SUPREME.  105 

the  probable  destruction  of  free  institutions.  "  If 
there  was  no  check,"  he  says,  "  upon  the  tyranny  of 
legislative  majorities,  the  prospect  before  us  would 
be  gloomy  in  the  extreme."  These  are  remarkable 
words,  both  from  the  weight  of  the  authority  from 
which  they  proceed,  and  from  the  fact  that  we  must 
now  read  them  in  the  nature  of  a  prediction.  The 
possibility  imagined  by  Chancellor  Kent  is  the  reality 
of  to-day,  and  must  remain  the  unalterable  condition 
of  the  political  system.  There  is  no  check  upon  the 
Legislative  majority.  Come  what  may,  it  is  supreme. 
It  bends  the  Executive — it  defies  or  ignores  the 
Judiciary.  Whether  the  consequences  be  good  or 
evil,  the  rule  of  the  majority  must  henceforth  be  a 
tyranny.  Minorities  have  no  rights  except  such  as 
are  conceded  to  them  by  the  majority.19 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  this  degrada 
tion  of  the  Federal  Judiciary  was  never  contemplated 
by  the  founders  of  the  Constitution.  It  was  expected 
that  the  people  would  at  all  times  be  ready  to  bow 
to  its  decisions,  and  no  provision  was  made,  or  could 
have  been  made,  for  such  an  event  as  their  denying 
or  repudiating  its  authority.  Mr.  Ellsworth,  after- 


19  Chancellor  Kent  appears  to  have  had  a  foreboding  of  this 
result.  "  The  equal  rights  of  a  minor  party,"  he  says,  in  a  note  to 
his  20th  Lecture  (vol.  i.  p.  488),  "are  disregarded  in  the  animated 
competitions  for  power ;  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  checks  and 
barriers  to  which  I  have  alluded,  they  would  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the 
passions  of  fierce  and  vindictive  majorities."  The  danger  which  he 
dreaded  is  actually  before  his  country,  but,  whether  it  is  so  fatal 
as  he  supposed  it,  time  alone  can  decide. 


103  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  VI. 

wards  Chief-Justice,  well  put  this  point  in  the  Con 
vention  of  Connecticut.  "  If  the  United  States  go 
beyond  their  powers  ;  if  they  make  a  law,  which 
the  Constitution  does  not  authorize,  it  is  void ; 
and  the  judicial  power,  the  national  judges,  who,  to 
secure  their  impartiality,  are  to  be  made  indepen 
dent,  will  declare  it  void."  "  Still,  however,"  he 
added,  "  if  the  United  States  and  the  individual 
States  will  quarrel — if  they  want  to  fight,  they  may 
do  it,  and  no  frame  of  government  can  possibly 
prevent  it."20  And  so,  too,  Chief-Justice  Marshall 
observed  that,  "  whenever  hostility  to  the  existing 
system  shall  become  universal,  it  will  also  be  irre 
sistible.  The  people  made  the  Constitution,  and  the 
people  can  unmake  it.  It  is  the  creature  of  their 
will,  and  lives  only  by  their  will." 

It  is  impossible  to  foretell  the  ultimate  conse 
quences  of  the  prostration  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
In  quiet  times,  and  when  no  issue  which  divides  the 
nation  is  being  contested,  the  decisions  of  the  Court 
may  still  be  regarded  as  binding  upon  all ;  but  it  is 
evident  that  the  Legislature,  when  supported  by  a 
majority,  can  always  go  on  making  laws  which  are 
manifestly  and  avowedly  not  in  agreement  with  the 
Constitution,  and  that  the  Supreme  Court  has  no 
power  to  prevent  these  enactments  from  being  put 
in  force  against  the  minority.  Its  jurisdiction  may 
be  questioned,  and  its  judgments  set  at  nought. 


Story,  '  Commentaries  "  p.  267  (3rd  ed.  note).  Boot  iii.  c.  iv. 


CHAI-.VI  JUSTICE  STORY'S  PREDICTIONS.  107 

There  will  then  arise  that  state  of  things  which  Mr. 
Justice  Story  described  as  a  day  of  evil  never  likely 
to  be  witnessed  in  the  United  States  : — "  The  people 
may,  if  they  please,  submit  all  power  to  their  rulers 
for  the  time  being ;  but  then  the  government  should 
receive  its  true  appellation  and  character.  It  would 
be  a  government  of  tyrants,  elective,  it  is  true,  but 
still  tyrants ;  and  it  would  become  the  more  fierce, 
vindictive,  and  sanguinary  because  it  would  perpetu 
ally  generate  factions  in  its  own  bosom,  who  could 

succeed  only  by  the  ruin  of  their  enemies 

It  would  be  as  corrupt  as  it  would  be  dangerous.  It 
would  form  another  model  of  that  profligate  and 
bloody  democracy,  which,  at  one  time,  in  the  French 
Revolution,  darkened  by  its  deeds  the  fortunes  of 
France,  and  left  to  mankind  the  appalling  lesson, 
that  virtue  and  religion,  genius  and  learning,  the 
authority  of  wisdom  and  the  appeals  of  innocence, 
are  unheard  and  unfelt  in  the  frenzy  of  popular 
excitement ;  and  that  the  worst  crimes  may  be  sanc 
tioned,  and  the  most  desolating  principles  inculcated, 
under  the  banners  and  in  the  name  of  liberty."  '21  This 
picture  is  a  gloomy  one,  and  every  American  would 
shrink  back  from  the  thought  that  there  is  a  possi 
bility  it  may  be  realized  some  day  in  his  own  land. 
But  such  catastrophes  are  always  unforeseen.  No 
nation  ever  believed  that  the  violent  convulsions 
which  they  find  recorded  in  history  they  also  are 


31  '  Commentaries, '  ii.  p.  4G8,  sect.  1621. 


108  THE   JUDICIARY.  CHAP.  Vi 

destined  to  undergo.  They  wonder  at  the  blindness 
and  folly  of  the  people  who  thus  suffered,  while  at 
the  same  time  they  may  be  pursuing  a  course  which 
must  end  in  precisely  the  same  results.  Already  the 
Americans  are  accustomed  to  see  vast  social  and 
political  changes  carried  out  without  reference  to 
that  "  collected  will  "  of  which  Webster  speaks.  The 
idea,  so  precious  to  the  constructors  of  the  govern 
ment,  that  there  should  be  one  settled  law,  placed 
above  the  reach  of  time  or  change,  by  which  all 
questions  relating  to  the  functions  of  any  department 
of  the  government  might  be  judged,  has  proved  a 
dream.  Laws  will  be  made  for  the  day.  "  A  com 
munity,"  says  a  distinguished  jurist,  "which  never 
hesitated  to  relax  rules  of  written  law  whenever  they 
stood  in  the  way  of  an  ideally  perfect  decision  on  the 
facts  of  particular  cases,  would  only,  if  it  bequeathed 
any  body  of  judicial  principles  to  posterity,  bequeath 
one  consisting  of  the  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  which 
happened  to  be  prevalent  at  the- time."2  It  was 
wise  in  the  Americans  to  improve  their  Constitution. 
But  to  undermine  the  tribunal  which  must  be  the 
expounder  of  that  Constitution  was  an  act  of  reck 
lessness  which  is  likely  to  be  profoundly  deplored 
hereafter  by  all  classes  of  the  people. 


23  Maine's  '  Ancient  Law/  chapter  iv. 


CHAP.  VU.  UNIVfiBSAL   SUFFRAGE.  109 


A^,,,:* 

UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTEK    VII. 


UNIVERSAL   SUFFRAGE. 

THE  Federal  Constitution  left  to  the  States  in  the 
Union  the  power  which  they  originally  possessed 
of  determining  for  themselves  the  qualifications  of 
electors,  with  the  single  condition  that  the  electors 
for  members  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  "  shall 
have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the 
most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature."3 
Thus,  uniformity  is  not  found  in  the  electoral  system 
of  the  United  States,  and  it  cannot  be  strictly  said 
that  universal  suffrage  exists  there.  The  laws  of 
nearly  all  the  States  vary  upon  this  important  sub 
ject,  and  until  very  recently  Congress  had  not  assumed 
the  right  to  dictate  to  any  State  the  terms  upon 
which  it  should  admit  its  citizens  to  the  franchise. 
But  after  the  fall  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  it 
decided  that  by  right  of  conquest  it  could  justly 
deprive  the  insurgent  States  of  their  "equal  right 
of  representation  "  until  they  consented  to  allow 


1  Constitution,  art.  i.  sect.  2. 


110  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII 

negroes  to  vote,  and  in  18(57  the  same  Congress 
advanced  a  step  farther  than  this,  and  refused  to 
admit  into  the  Union  two  Territories  as  States  unless 
they  changed  the  organic  law  of  their  Constitutions 
so  that  it  should  not  exclude  negroes  from  the  suf 
frage.  This  measure  was  not  carried  without  protests 
and  arguments  from  many  members,  who  maintained 
that  it  was  a  proceeding  utterly  without  precedent 
and  warrant  in  Congress  to  fetter  the  States  in  their 
action  upon  an  essential  part  of  their  internal  policy, 
with  which  tha  Constitution  inferentially  forbade 
interference.  But  other  members  did  not  hesitate 
to  affirm  that  Congress  not  only  had  the  right  to 
exclude  new  States,  until  they  complied  with  any 
conditions  it  thought  proper  to  impose,  but  that  it 
ought  also  to  insist  upon  States  already  in  the  Union 
modifying  their  Constitutions  so  that  the  emanci 
pated  race  might  be  on  an  equality  at  the  polls  with 
the  white  citizen.  "  Pennsylvania,"  said  one  of  the 
representatives  of  that  State,  "  has  not  at  this  moment 
a  Republican  form  of  government,  and  I  wish  that 
Congress  would  compel  it  to  organise  one."2  And 
although  these  views  were  warmly  opposed,  still  both 
houses  of  Congress  refused  by  a  large  majority  to 
admit  Nebraska  and  Colorado  as  States  until  they 
had  changed  the  electoral  qualifications  upon  which 
they  had  fixed,  and  abolished  distinction  on  the 
ground  of  race  or  colour. 


»  See  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  Jan.  15,  1867. 


Uur.  Vll.  QUALIFICATIONS    OF    ELECTORS.  Ill 

The  older  States  had,  of  course,  decided  upon  the 
qualifications  of  electors  long  before  the  troubles  of 
the  civil  war.  Some  of  them  made  it  conditional 
that  before  a  citizen  could  vote  he  must  have  paid  a 
State  or  county  tax ;  in  others  a  certain  period  of 
residence  was  prescribed ;  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  other 
Western  States,  any  person  may  vote,  whether  natu 
ralised  or  not,  if  he  has  lived  six  months  in  a  "  fixed 
permanent  residence."  In  Maine  a  three  months'  re 
sidence  is  the  only  qualification.  In  Pennsylvania 
he  must  have  paid  a  tax  within  two  years,  and  lived 
one  year  in  the  State  and  ten  days  in  the  district. 
In  four  States  a  property  qualification  is  exacted.  In 
the  mode  of  voting  the  practice  is  not  uniform ; 
in  some  States  it  is  viva  voce,  in  others  by  ballot.3 
And  the  custom  of  open  voting  is  commended  by 
some  American  publicists  of  high  authority  in  pre 
ference  to  the  ballot,  which  is  chiefly  extolled  in 
countries  where  it  has  not  yet  been  introduced,  and 
where  the  corruption  to  which  it  gives  rise  is  not 
realised  or  understood.  Thus  Mr.  Justice  Story 
writes — "Intrigue  and  combination  are  more  com 
monly  found  connected  with  secret  sessions  than 
with  public  debates ;  with  the  working  of  the  ballot- 
box  than  with  the  manliness  of  viva  voce  votes.  At 
least  it  may  be  questioned  if  the  vote  by  ballot  has, 
in  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  the  American  people, 
obtained  any  preference  over  viva  voce  voting,  even 

3  See  •  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States'  (New  York,  1857  > 
aiid  ulso  Kent's  'Commentaries,'  i.  pp.  231-34,  note. 


112  UNIVERSAL    8UFF11AGE.  CHAP.  VII. 

at  elections."4  It  will  presently  be  shown  that  the 
effect  of  the  ballot  is  not  to  prevent  bribery,  but 
merely  to  enable  corrupt  electors  to  receive  money 
from  each  of  the  contestants,  and  to  be  shielded  from 
all  risk  of  discovery.  Undoubtedly  a  man  may  keep 
his  vote  secret  if  he  have  any  special  object  to  accom 
plish  thereby,  but  it  is  not  an  aim  with  men  of 
principle  to  disguise  their  opinions.  Their  views  are 
known,  or  may  be  known  to  any  one  who  takes  an 
interest  in  them,  beforehand.  The  only  advantage 
of  the  ballot  is  that  it  prevents  the  noise  and  con 
fusion  which  often  prevail  in  the  viva  voce  mode  of 
election.  The  voter  drops  his  ticket  quietly  into  a 
glass  globe,  which  is  kept  securely  locked,  and 
a  much  larger  number  of  votes  can  be  registered  in 
the  same  space  of  time  by  this  arrangement,  than  by 
the  process  of  open  voting. 


4  Story's  '  Commentaries,'  i.  sect.  841.  American  politicians  are 
often  found  intensely  hostile  to  the  ballot.  On  the  14th  of  March, 
1867,  in  the  course  of  a  debate  in  the  Senate  upon  a  reconstruc 
tion  bill  for  the  South,  a  Radical  senator  (Mr.  Trumbull;  said — 
"  I  want  to  see  every  man  an  independent  voter,  not  sneaking  to 
the  polls  and  hiding  his  expression  in  a  secret  ballot.  Sir,  it  is 
by  secret  ballots  and  secret  systems  of  other  kinds  that  liberty  has 
been  trodden  down  everywhere.  I  have  no  such  opinion  of  my 
fellow-countrymen,  I  have  no  such  opinion  of  tho  masses  of  the 
people  of  this  country,  as  to  suppose  that  they  dare  not  tell  out  how 
they  vote."  Another  senator  (Mr.  Buckalew)  said  that  the  advan 
tages  of  the  vote  by  ballot  had  been  very  much  over-estimated, 
particularly  abroad — '  It  leads  to  nothing  but  deception ;  and  decep 
tion  which  can  only  be  practised  by  the  cunning,  and  which  cannot 
be  and  is  not  practised  by  the  simple,  for  whose  protection  the 
system  was  originally  established." — (See  the  '  Daily  Congressional 
Globe'  of  March  15th,  1867.) 


CHAP.  VII.  PLAN    OF    THE    ELECTIVE    SYSTEM.  113 

The  mode  of  exercising  the  franchise  seems  at  first 
sight  to  be  involved  and  complicated,  but  it  is  in 
reality  perfectly  clear  and  simple.  In  State  elections 
the  people  elect  the  members  of  the  House,  and  the 
Legislature  ballots  for  Senators.  The  Legislature  of 
each  State  chooses  the  Senators  to  represent  it  in 
the  Federal  Congress ;  but  the  people  at  large  vote 
directly  at  the  polls  for  members  of  the  House  of 
Kepresentatives.  In  Congress  the  Senate  is  intended 
to  represent  States;  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
the  people.  It  is  important  that  the  general  system 
should  be  thoroughly  understood,  and  it  is  neces 
sary  that  each  part  cf  it  should  be  examined  in 
detail,  in  order  that  it  may  be  rightly  seen  into 
what  hands  political  power  actually  falls.  Let  us 
first  consider  the  mode  of  electing  the  President  of 
the  United  States. 

The  founders  of  the  government  earnestly  de 
sired  to  break  the  direct  action  of  the  people  in 
the  choice  of  President.  It  was  provided  that  the 
people  of  a  State  should  not  vote  for  their  chief 
magistrate,  but  that  they  should,  either  directly  or 
through  their  State  Legislatures,  select  a  number  of 
persons,  equal  to  the  number  of  representatives  to 
which  they  were  entitled  in  Congress,  and  that  these 
persons,  called  "Electors,"  should  meet  on  a  given 
day,  and  cast  their  votes  for  the  President.  The 
express  design  was  that  the  Electors  should  be  left 
free  to  exercise  their  own  independent  judgment 
and  will.  They  would,  it  was  thought,  weigh  care- 

I 


114  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VJ1. 

fully  the  merits  of  each  candidate,  and  be  less  liable 
to  the  influences  of  party  passion  or  feeling  than  the 
mass  of  the  people.  They  would  discharge  their 
important  trust  in  a  calm  and  judicial  spirit,  and, 
since  no  pay  or  emoluments  were  attached  to  their 
duties,  they  would  do  what  was  required  of  them 
without  fear  or  favour.  The  four  electors  from  Rhode 
Island,  equal  to  her  two  Representatives  and  two 
Senators,  and  the  thirty-four  electors  from  New  York, 
equal  to  her  thirty-two  Representatives  and  two 
Senators,5  would  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and 
form  an  opinion  of  their  own  with  regard  to  the 
candidates  before  them,  and  would  not  be  afraid  of 
voting  in  accordance  with  that  opinion.  This  is  the 
constitutional  theory  of  a  Presidential  Election.  Upon 
this  all  the  recognised  authorities  are  agreed,  and,  as 
the  practice  is  altogether  opposed  to  the  theory,  it 
is  well  to  consider  the  words  of  two  or  three  of  these 
authorities.  Hamilton  evidently  thought  that  an 
effectual  barrier  against  the  direct  force  of  the  people 
in  the  choice  of  President  had  been  provided.  "  The 
choice  of  several,"  he  says,  ';  to  form  an  intermediate 
body  of  electors,  will  be  much  less  apt  to  convulse 
the  community  with  any  extraordinary  or  violent 
movements,  than  the  choice  of  one.  who  was  him  sell 
to  be  the  final  object  of  the  public  wishes." c  In  the 
same  spirit  Chancellor  Kent  tells  us  that  the  Consti 
tution  "has  not  thought  it  safe  or  prudent  to  refer 

5  These  are  the  numbers  at  the  present  time,  not,  of  course,  at  the 
outset  of  the  government.  B  '  Federalist,'  No.  68. 


CHAT.  Vll.         THEORY    OF    KLKOTING    THE    PUESIDENT.  115 

the  election  of  a  President  directly  and  immediately 
to  the  people,"7  because,  as  he  goes  on  to  explain,  a 
"  popular  election  might  have  led  to  a  violent  contest, 
and  tried  the  experiment  on  too  extended  a  scale 
for  the  p'ublic  virtue,  tranquillity,  and  happiness."8 
All  the  evils  incidental  to  a  popular  appeal  had,  he 
thought,  been  avoided  by  this  scheme  of  a  special 
electoral  body.  The  Electors  would  be  free  from  all 
temptations  to  bias  or  corruption.  Mr.  Justice  Story 
adopts  precisely  the  same  line  of  argument,  but  admits 
that  the  system  contemplated  by  the  founders  of  the 
Constitution  has  been  utterly  departed  from.9 

In  this  feature  of  their  plan,  as  in  so  many  others, 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  were  misled  by  their 
confidence  in  artificial  checks  and  safeguards.  They 
miscalculated  the  effect  of  placing  the  moving  springs 
of  government  in  the  hands  of  the  masses.  They 
thought  that  the  people  would  be  permanently  satis 
fied  with  something  short  of  the  whole,  and  either 
did  not  perceive  the  tendency  of  popular  government 
to  end  in  unbridled  indulgence  of  the  will  of  mere 
numbers,  or  thought  the  evil  too  remote  to  occasion 
anxiety.  The  results  of  this  error  of  judgment  are 
apparent  in  every  detail  of  the  civil  polity.  The  cor 
ruption  and  immorality  incidental  to  a  great  personal 
contest  like  that  of  a  Presidental  election  were  deemed 
to  be  securely  guarded  against,  whereas  they  are  now 
established  with  the  force  and  sanction  of  custom  in 


1  'Commentaries,'  Lect.  xiii.  sect.  275.  8  Ibid.  sect.  279. 

9  Story's  •  Commentaries,'  vol.  ii  sect.  H57  and  1463. 

i  2 


116  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII. 

every  part  of  the  Union.  The  ingenious  apparatus 
for  filtering  public  opinion  has  been  discarded.  The 
Executive  of  the  United  States  is  in  fact  elected  by  a 
popular  vote,  but  no  national  convulsion  ordinarily  fol 
lows  the  retiring  or  brings  in  the  succeeding  President. 
On  a  certain  day  the  people  go  to  the  polls  to  choose 
Electors.  The  names  of  the  candidates  are  printed 
on  tickets,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the  name  of  the 
Presidential  candidate  whom  they  •  are  pledged  to 
support.  When  the  citizen  votes  this  ticket,  he  in 
effect  votes  directly  for  the  man  ho  desires  to  see 
President,  for  the  Electors  afterwards  fulfil  a  purely 
delegated  function — they  go  through  a  form  required 
by  the  Constitution,  but  one  having  no  significance 
or  value  of  its  own.  An  Elector  is  chosen  because 
he  will  vote  for  a  particular  candidate ;  it  is  precisely 
the  same  in  result  as  if  the  vote  were  cast  directly 
for  that  candidate.  The  Electors  do  not  deliberate 
together.  The  day  they  are  returned  the  Presidential 
election  is  over.  Eveiy  one  knows  who  has  been 
sent  to  the  White  House  at  Washington.  The  sub 
sequent  proceedings  of  the  Electors  themselves 
scarcely  attract  the  least  public  attention.  They 
send  their  ballots  to  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
and  I  have  often  been  assured  by  old  politicians  in 
the  United  States  that  in  no  known  instance  has  an 
elector  ever  voted  against  the  candidate  whom  he 
has  undertaken  to  support.  Indeed,  he  is  usually 
as  strongly  interested  as  his  constituents  in  the  suc 
cess  of  the  candidate  of  his  party.  To  break  faith 


CHAP.  VII.    THE   PRESIDENT    ELECTED    BY    POPULAR    VOTE.        117 

would  be  to  ruin  him.  He  would,  in  the  words  of 
one  of  the  first  political  men  in  the  country,  "be 
hooted  out  of  society."  And  the  authority  of  Mr. 
Justice  Story  confirms  this,  when  he  says  of  the 
Elector,  that  the  "  exercise  of  an  independent  judg 
ment  would  be  treated  as  a  political  usurpation, 
dishonourable  to  the  individual,  and  a  fraud  upon  his 
constituents." 

The  President  is,  therefore,  an  officer  directly 
elected  by  the  people,  and  not  by  a  small  and  picked 
body.  In  the  words  of  the  learned  commentator 
just  quoted,  the  whole  foundation  of  the  system  so 
elaborately  constructed  has  been  subverted;  but  it 
was  impossible  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  the  present 
arrangement.  The  people  were  sure  to  satisfy  them 
selves  that  the  electors  would  consent  to  receive  instruc 
tions,  and  to  take  precautions  against  their  breaking 
faith ;  nor  would  it  be  easy,  or  perhaps  possible,  to 
invent  any  device  which  should  give  the  shadow  ef 
power  to  the  people,  and  the  substance  to  the  dele 
gates  whom  they  had  the  unqualified  right  to  appoint. 

The  mode  of  electing  the  Senate  has  been  suffi 
ciently  explained.  In  choosing  members  for  the 
popular  branch  of  the  Legislature  the  immediate 
action  of  the  people  at  the  polls  is  again  felt. 
By  the  system  of  apportionment  which  now  pre 
vails,  there  is  one  representative  to  about  every 
hundred  thousand  persons,10  and  the  State  is  broken 

10  With  regard  to  certain  slight  inequalities  which  this  plan  is 
found  to  produce,  Webster  n  marks,  "  Tho  apportionment  of  re.pre- 


118  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  V1L 

up  into  as  many  districts  as  it  is  entitled  to  return 
members  to  Congress,  each  district  returning  one 
member.  Thus,  the  population  of  the  State  of  New 
York  entitles  it  to  thirty-two  representatives,  there 
fore  it  is  divided  into  thirty-two  districts  ;  and  when 
the  fact  previously  mentioned  is  borne  in  mind,  that 
the  candidate  usually  resides  in  his  district,  and  that 
he  is  elected  only  for  two  years,  it  will  be  obvious 
that  the  control  of  the  people  over  their  representa 
tives  is  very  great.  They  are  popular  or  unpopular 
in  an  instant.  Their  votes  are  carefully  watched  by 
the  active  and  never-tiring  politicians  of  their  dis 
tricts,  and  they  are  called  to  account  for  every  error 
or  fault  they  may  commit.  The  pressure  applied  to 
them  is  constant  and  not  to  be  eluded.  If  a  member 
attempts  to  represent  the  interests  of  the  nation, 
unmindful  of  his  constituency,  he  soon  ceases  to 
represent  anybody.  His  first  term  of  office  is  his 
last. 

The  political  management  and  control  of  every 
election  is  exclusively  appropriated  by  the  local  ma 
nagers  of  the  party.  In  every  Congressional  district 
there  sits  a  committee  which  selects  the  candidate 
whom  it  is  intended  to  bring  before  the  people.  This 
process  is  called  the  party  nomination,  and  the  candi 
date  who  hoped  to  be  returned  independently  of  that 


sentative  power  can  never  be  precise  and  perfect.  There  must 
always  exist  some  degree  of  inequality." — \Vorks,  iii.  374.  The 
system  now  pructised  is  perhaps  us  nearly  equal  and  fair  as  any 
other  that  could  be  devised. 


CI:.\P.  VII.     THE    NOMINATION    OF    MEMBERS    OF    CONGRESS.      119 

nomination,  or  of  the  committee,  or  of  the  faction, 
would  realize  in  the  end  that  he  had  spent  a  large 
sum  of  money  merely  to  assure  himself  of  the  invin 
cibility  of  party  organizations.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  candidate  who  secures  the  regular  nomination 
has  all  the  machinery  of  his  party  to  aid  him.11  His 
name  is  included  in  the  general  list  of  the  candi 
dates  of  his  party,  and  the  voter  takes  it  and  "  votes 
the  whole  ticket,"  as  it  is  called,  often  without 
knowing  anything  of  the  men  for  whom  he  is  voting, 
but  resting  satisfied  with  the  knowledge  that  they 
have  received  the  sanction  and  recommendation  of 
his  leaders.  The  candidate  rarely  makes  an  appeal  to 
the  body  of  his  constituency.  The  committee  are  his 
masters,  and  he  must  settle  every  detail,  and,  to  bor 
row  the  common  phrase,  "square  his  opinions"  with 
them.  There  is  no  "  nomination  day  "  as  in  England, 
the  candidate  is  not  compelled  to  appear  before  his 


11  To  appreciate  the  true  character  of  the  nominating  convention, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  read  the  following  remarks  of  the  '  Nation.'  a 
paper  which  was  the  organ  of  the  party  in  power  at  the  time  the 
article  appeared  : — "  Moreover,  it  is  not  the  best  portion  of  the  con 
vention  which  does  the  real  work  of  selection,  but  a  small  minority 
whose  chief  qualification  for  the  task  is  skill  in  that  species  of 
jugglery  called  '  management.'  There  is  no  earthly  means  of  know 
ing  beforehand  on  whom  they  will  fix  as  a  candidate  for  any  office, 
as  they  are  governed  by  considerations  of  all  kinds,  most  of  them 
very  low,  of  which  the  public  outside  can  see  or  learn  absolutely 
nothing.  So  that  the  voters  never  know  what  species  of  animals 
they  are  expected  to  swallow  until  a  week  or  two  before  the  election, 
and  after  the  announcement  of  the  ticket  no,  qualms  or  hesitation  are 
allowed.  You  are  expected  to  open  your  mouth  and  shut  your 
eyes."  -April  llth,  1867. 


120  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII 

constituency  after  the  election,  and  thus  there  are  no 
opportunities  for  those  disturbances  which  sometimes 
scandalize  election  proceedings  in  the  United  King 
dom.  It  has  already  been  said  that  the  ballot  not 
only  fails  to  provide  any  security  against  corruption, 
but  it  does  not  even  insure  secrecy  of  voting,  nor  is 
any  value  attached  to  it  in  that  respect.  Temporary 
stalls  are  fitted  up  near  the  polling-booths,  and  there 
the  tickets  of  the  respective  parties  are  publicly 
distributed  to  the  electors.  Every  one  can  see  to 
which  booth  they  go  for  their  tickets,  and,  although 
they  could  easily  be  obtained  before  the  election,  yet 
the  common  custom  is  to  take  them  at  the  booths 
which  are  set  up  for  the  purpose  of  affording  this 
accommodation, — in  other  words,  to  throw  aside 
as  worthless  the  boasted  contrivance  for  insuring 
secrecy. 

It  is  often  said  by  politicians  who  profess  to  be 
anxious  to  make  the  English  elective  system  iden 
tical  with  the  American,  that,  as  the  suffrage  is  ex 
tended,  corruption  is  diminished,  because  it  is  not 
practicable  to  buy  and  sell  large  masses  of  men. 
Hence,  it  is  affirmed,  there  is  greater  purity  of 
election  in  the  United  States  than  in  England.  Men 
there  are  influenced  in  the  choice  of  public  officers 
solely  by  patriotic  motives.  They  scorn  to  receive 
compensation  for  their  votes.  These  are  statements 
which  only  wilful  or  accidental  blindness  to  the 
working  of  the  elective  franchise  in  the  United  States 
can  explain.  No  American  would  assert  that  purity 


CHAP.  VII.  DEGRADATION    OF    THE    FRANCHISE.  121 

of  election  is  common  in  his  country.  There  are 
few  of  them  who  will  not  frankly  deplore  the  low 
and  degraded  view  of  the  suffrage  which  the  least 
cultivated — that  is  to  say,  the  numerous — classes 
habitually  take.  No  doubt  the  evil  is  seen,  in  its 
greatest  magnitude  in  cities  and  large  towns,  but  in 
America  it  is  not  pretended  that  it  is  exclusively  con 
fined  to  them.  It  spreads  to  the  rural  districts,  and 
it  is  constantly  extending  wider  and  wider.  Men  often 
strive  to  get  returned  to  the  Legislatures  of  their 
States  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  profit, — that  profit  which 
goes  into  their  pockets,  and  which  they  derive  from 
bartering  their  votes.  From  the  first  day  they  take 
their  seats,  they  are  beset  with  inducements  to  sup 
port  private  bills  which  involve  large  interests,  and  in 
which  their  own  interests  are  not  forgotten.  The  work 
of  making  bargains  with  the  members — of  paying 
them  so  much  money  for  voting  in  a  particular  way- 
has  become  an  open  and  a  recognised  trade.  It  is  not 
considered  dishonourable  to  take  a  bribe,  and  when 
a  man  is  proved  to  have  taken  one  he  suffers  no  loss 
in  the  public  estimation.12  The  professional  lobbyist 
is  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  America.  In  the 
choice  of  Senators  for  the  Federal  Congress,  the  State 
Legislatures  are  often  guilty  of  shameful  corruption. 
An  eminent  American  politician13  stated  in  a  letter 
to  which  his  name  was  attached,  that  "  corruption, 
bribery,  and  fraud,"  had  been  freely  charged,  and  he 

12  See  chapter  viii.,  on  "Party  Government." 

13  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens. 


122  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAH.  VII. 

feared  "too  often  proved  to  have  controlled  the 
actions  "  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  the  State 
which  this  gentleman  represented  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  concerning  which  he  therefore 
spoke  with  authority.  "  A  seat  in  the  Legislature," 
he  continued,  "  became  an  object  of  ambition  for 
the  chance  of  levying  contributions  from  rich  cor 
porations,  and  other  large  jobs."  The  very  office  of 
Senator  nad  been  bought  and  sold  for  gold.14  The 
only  surprise  that  these  .disclosures  occasioned  was 
provoked  by  the  circumstance  that  any  public  man 
should  have  had  the  courage  to  make  them.  Men 
enter  these  State  Legislatures  poor  and  leave  them 
rich.15  It  is  unnecessary  to  yay  that  this  vicious 


14  The  whole  of  the  passage  from  the  letter  in  question  is  interest 
ing  enough  to  be  quoted  : — "  It  cannot  be  denied,  and  therefore 
need  not  be  concealed,   that  for  the  last  ten  or  fifteen   years  the 
Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  has  had  a  most  unenviable  reputation. 
Corruption,  bribery,  and  fraud  have  been  freely  charged,  and,  I  fear, 
too  often  proved  to  have  controlled  their  actions.     No  matter  how 
honest  when  chosen,  the  atmosphere  of  Harrisburg  seems  to  have 
pierced  many  of  them  with  a  demoralizing  taint.      A  seat  in  the 
Legislature  became  an  object  of  ambition,  not  for  the  per  diem,  but 
for  the  chance  of  levying  contributions  from  rich  corporations  and 
other  large  jobs.     Corruption  finally  became  so  respectable  as  to 
seduce  candidates  for  office  boldly  to  bid  for  them,  and  to  pay  the 
cash  for  the  delivery  of  the  ballot.     The  very  office  of  Senator  fa 
known  to  have  been  once   bought  with  gold,  and   to   have  been 
trafficked  for  on  other  memorable  occasions  in  exchange  for  the 
precious  metals.     Indeed,  it  has  become  proverbial  that  the  longest 
purse  is  sure  to  win."     This  letter  was  published  in  the  Washington 
'Morning  Chronicle,'  7th  Jan.  1867. 

15  A  letter  in  the  '  New  York  Tribune,'  dated  Albany,  March  18, 
1867,  exposes  many  instances  of  corruption  which  have  been  prac 
tised  in  the  New  York  Legislature.     Not  forty  men  in  that  body, 
the  writer  states,  could  have  been  found  for  ten  years  past  willing  to 


CHAP.  VII.  BRIBERY    AND    CORRUPTION.  123 

debasement  of  an  honestly  designed  elective  system 
is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  peculiarity  in  the 
American  character.  There  the  poor  are  no  worse 
than  they  are  anywhere  else  ;  in  some  respects  they 
are  even  better  fitted  to  be  intrusted  -with  political 
power.  It  is  the  result  of  the  wide  and  indiscriminate 
suffrage  which  has  been  adopted  in  the  country.  The 
same  consequences  would  be  likely  to  follow  from  the 
operation  of  the  same  system  in  every  part  of  the  world. 


vote  without  a  bribe.  The  New  York  Central  Railroad  Company 
has  paid  since  1853  half  a  million  of  dollars  in  corrupting  the 
members.  One  Senator  demanded  25,000  dollars  for  his  vote  on  a 
particular  bill.  In  a  subsequent  letter,  published  in  the  '  Tribune ' 
of  March  29, 1867,  the  same  writer  asserts  that  this  mil  way  company 
paid  away  100,000  dollars  to  "legislators  and  outsiders."  A  bill 
was  passed  through  the  Senate  at  a  cost  of  40.000  dollars.  In  the 
Assembly  "  between  forty  and  fifty  votes  were  paid  for,  at  prices 
varying  from  300  to  1500  dollars  each. '  And  in  a  third  letter,  pub 
lished  in  the  '  Tribune '  of  the  3rd  April,  18G7,  the  writer  says : — 
"  During  all  the  many  years  that  I  have  been  accustomed  to  observe 
the  character  of  legislators  and  the  proceedings  of  the  body,  I  have 
never  seen  anything  to  compare  with  the  present  assemblages  or 
representatives  in  point  of  shamelessness,  rapacity,  and  recklessness 
of  consequences.  Their  predecessors  have  often  been  noted  for 
venality  and  greediness,  but  these  people  sell  their  votes  openly, 
haggle  about  the  price  without  pretence  of  concealment,  and  then 
boast  of  what  they  have  been  paid."  The  '  New  York  Times '  of 
April  8,  1867,  confirms  all  these  statements.  "  We  venture  to 
say,"  says  the  writer,  "  that,  as  a  general  rule,  for  the  last  ten  years, 
one-fifth  of  the  members  of  each  House  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
taking  bribes  for  their  votes— the  fact  is  open,  notorious  to  every  one 
who  has  had  any  personal  connection  with  Albany  legislation."  And 
iigain : — "  We  speak  what  hundreds  of  men  know,  from  personal 
ixperience,  that  no  bill  whose  passage  will  confer  pecuniary  advan 
tage  upon  any  man  or  any  corporation  can  be  passed  in  Albany 
except  by  bribery — except  by  paying  members  to  pass  it.  No  man 
can  get  his  rights,  or  prevent  serious  damage  to  his  private  interests, 
cr  avert  ruin  from  himself  and  his  family,  except  by  bribery." 


124  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VLL 

If  seats  in  the  State  assemblies  are  worth  a  large 
price,  it  may  be  inferred  that  a  seat  in  the  Federal 
Congress  is  a  still  more  precious  commodity ;  and 
in  truth  the  traffic  for  it  scarcely  ever  ceases.  When 
the  candidate-  is  returned,  he  must  go  on  making  it 
"  worth  the  while"  of  his  friends  to  support  him,  or 
his  next  election  is  placed  in  great  jeopardy.  But 
bribery  is  a  penal  offence  in  the  United  States,  and 
through  this  misfortune  the  candidate  is  driven  to 
great  exercises  of  ingenuity  in  order  to  pay  the 
price  demanded"  of  him  without  detection.  Various 
stratagems  are  employed  by  both  candidate  and 
elector.  In  the  first  place,  the  candidate  deals  with 
the  representatives  of  small  associations,  not  with 
individuals.  The  foreman  of  a  manufactory,  or  of 
a  fire  company,  goes  to  him,  and  says,  "  There  are 
twenty  or  thirty  of  us  who  are  going  to  vote  for  this 
election,  and  we  do  not  much  care  on  which  side. 
We  rather  prefer  you,  and  if  you  will  give  us  so 
much  we  will  vote  for  you."  Or,  again,  the  candidate 
makes  a  heavy  bet  against  or  upon  his  own  success 
with  some  man  who  has  the  control  over  fifty  votes, 
and  pays  the  bribe  over  in  that  form.  I  was  once 
shown  by  a  candidate  a  large  number  of  tickets  for 
a  ball  (which  was  a  ball  purely  of  the  imagination, 
and  never  intended  to  be  held),  that  he  had  lj<-<  n 
obliged  to  buy  from  some  one  who  had  twenty  votes 
at  his  command.  Buying  tickets  for  a  ball  is  not 
a  penal  offence  in  the  United  States. 

Another  ingenious  scheme  for  plundering  a  con- 


CHAP.  VII.       THE   FABRICATION   OR   PURCHASE    OF   VOTES.         125 

testant,  is  to  bring  forward  what  is  called  a  "  split 
candidate."  A  certain  number  of  electors,  having  a 
mind  to  profit  by  their  electoral  privileges,  meet 
together  and  agree  to  start  an  opposition  candidate 
in  the  field.  He  is  kept  "  running  "  until  he  is  likely 
to  divide  the  constituency,  and  then  he  is  bought  off 
by  the  first  candidate,  who  may  find  it  necessary  to 
open  his  purse  for  the  same  purpose  more  than 
once  during  the  election.  Any  party  manager  who 
chose  to  be  candid  could  give  various  other  illustra 
tions  of  expedients  for  bribing  which  are  prac 
tised  with  much  skill  and  success  in  America. 
Spurious  votes  are  manufactured,  and  in  the  large 
cities  personification  of  dead  or  absent  persons,  and 
the  forging  of  naturalization  papers,  are  among  the 
most  commonplace  incidents  of  an  election.  Each 
side  stations  detectives,  or  other  agents,  at  the 
polling-booths  to  watch  for  counterfeit  voters.  Some 
times  whole  masses  of  men  are  transported  from  one 
district  to  another,  a  process  which  has  been  named, 
after  the  inventor,  "  gerry-mandering."  It  is  needless 
to  explore  further  into  these  dark  recesses  of  political 
depravity.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  satisfaction  to  find 
that  a  great  plan  for  popular  government,  devised  by 
men  of  noble  character  and  purpose,  is  dishonoured 
by  those  to  whom  it  has  descended,  and  made  to 
appear  beneath  its  proper  merit  in  the  estimation 
of  the  world. 

The  result  of  government  by  numbers  is  written 
in  those  public  records  which  few  men  in  America 


126  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VIL 

have  the  time  or  the  inclination  to  search — namely, 
the  annals  of  Congress.  There  may  be  found  revela 
tions  of  legislative  corruption  without  a  parallel  in 
recent  times,  while  the  statute-books  bear  evidence 
of  the  careless  and  irresponsible  manner  in  which 
the  hired  representatives  of  the  people  fulfil  their 
appointed  tasks.  The  history  of  the  United  States 
government  proves  nothing  so  clearly  as  that  the 
uncontrolled  supremacy  of  the  masses  leads  to  the 
introduction  into  political  life  of  a  class  of  men  who 
would  certainly  be  rejected  by  an  educated  and  intel 
ligent  constituency.  It  gives  rise  to  an  overbearing 
intolerance  of  the  opinions  of  others,  to  unworthy 
views  of  public  station,  to  the  suppression  of  inde 
pendent  thought,  and  to  the  political  banishment  of 
men  whose  superior  talents  and  elevated  principles 
might  enable  them  to  render  the  greatest  service  to 
the  Republic.  Probity  and  high  intelligence  are 
qualities  which  have  less  influence  in  deciding  the 
course  of  an  election  than  the  command  of  wealth, 
or  a  flexible  adaptibility  to  the  temper  of  the  hour, 
and  a  skilful  subserviency  to  the  popular  wishes. 
What  the  bulk  of  electors  look  for  is  a  man,  not  of 
great  capabilities,  but  of  pliant  intellect  and  malleable 
convictions.  And  thus  no  past  labours,  be  they  ever 
so  siu-ressful,  will  save  a  man  from  disgrace  the 
moment  he  dares  to  oppose  his  opinions  to  those  of 
the  multitude,  while  the  truculent  and  designing 
demagogue,  who  flatters  the  ignorant  by  anticipat 
ing  their  desires,  is  lifted  into  favour  and  power. 


CHAP.  VII.  THE    TYRAiNNY    OF    NUMBERS.  127 

The  very  principles  of  the  government  are  repu 
diated  or  vindicated  according  to  the  caprice  of  the 
moment.  Freedom  of  opinion  is  punished  by  public 
odium  and  the  sacrifice  of  name  and  reputation.16 
The  man  who  ventures  to  stand  in  the  path  of  the 
majority  is  swept  away  and  disappears  probably  for 
ever — for  in  these  contests  the  victors  imitate  the 
tactics  of  their  Indian  foes  on  the  frontier,  who  either 
slaughter  their  enemies  outright,  or  leave  them 
incapable  of  doing  further  harm.  They  are  poisoned 
with  bitter  slanders  and  revilings.  The  identical  ills 
which  Montesquieu  saw  were  incidental  to  a  demo 
cracy,  seem  to  be  inseparable  from  political  life  in 
America.  Every  citizen  thinks  he  is  wiser  than  the 
ruler,  and  would  fain  rule  him.  "  Then  the  people, 
incapable  of  bearing  the  very  power  they  have  de 
legated,  want  to  manage  everything  themselves— 
to  debate  for  the  Senate,  to  execute  for  the  magis 
trate,  and  to  decide  for  the  judges.  The  people  are 
desirous  of  exercising  the  functions  of  the  magistrates, 
who  cease  to  be  revered."17  These  are  the  stains 
upon  a  system  sometimes  alleged  to  be  purity  itself, 
and  Americans  of  the  better  class  are  anxious  rather 
to  remove  them  than  to  deny  their  existence. 

The  perception  of  the  disadvantages  which  so  ex- 


16  Daniel  Webster,  because  he  saw  reasou  to  modify  his  opinions 
on  the  slavery  question  before  his  death,  is  constantly  vilified,  and 
every  feature  of  his  private  character  assailed.     See,  for  an  example, 
•North  American  Review  '  for  January,  1867. 

17  '  Esprit  des  Lois,'  liv.  viii.  chap.  ii. 


128  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII 

tended  a  suffrage  entail  upon  the  people  is  not  con 
fined  to  foreign  observers.  In  America  also  they  are 
understood  and  regretted.  That  the  Federal  Legisla 
ture  was  a  body  characterized  by  greater  dignity  and 
ability  thirty  years  ago  than  it  is  now  is  generally 
admitted.  The  standard  of  public  life  has  fallen. 
Chancellor  Kent  saw  the  change  that  was  going  on  in 
his  day  with  evident  misgiving  and  alarm.  It  could 
not  then  be  traced  to  the  effect  of  a  great  revolution, 
as  some  might  be  disposed  to  trace  it  now.  "  Such  a 
rapid  course  of  destruction  of  the  former  constitutional 
checks,"  he  writes,  "  is  matter  for  grave  reflection  ; 
and  to  counteract  the  dangerous  tendency  of  such 
combined  forces  as  universal  suffrage,  frequent  elec 
tions,  all  offices  for  short  periods,  all  officers  elective, 
and  an  unchecked  press,  and  to  prevent  them  from 
racking  and  destroying  our  political  machines,  the 
people  must  have  a  larger  share  than  usual  of  that 
wisdom  which  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle, 
and  easy  to  be  entreated."  18  But  without  this  wisdom, 
and  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that  it  has  been  rained 
down,  like  manna  to  the  Israelites,  upon  any  chosen 
people,  a  licensed  rule  of  numbers  is  one  under  which 
great  and  peculiar  wrongs  are  wrought.  The  well- 
instructed,  the  conscientious,  the  men  of  sterling  cha 
racter  and  means  and  leisure,  are  without  influence 
in  the  State.  There  is  a  despotism  of  the  poor  over 
the  rich.  No  party  would  think  of  going  to  the 


18  Kent's  '  Commentaries,'  vol.  i.  p.  234,  note. 


CHAP.  VII.       AMERICANS    NO    LOVERS    OF    DEMOCRACY.  129 

better  class  to  choose  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
The  lower  classes  are  not  satisfied  with  being  ac 
knowledged  the  equals  of  the  upper;  they  take 
every  opportunity  of  making  them  feel  that  as  they 
are  numerically  superior,  they  can  and  will  keep 
fast  hold  of  the  ascendency  in  the  State,  it  is  the 
fashion  to  assert  that  the  tendency  of  the  age  is 
towards  Democracy,  and  that  it  would  be  well  for 
the  world  that  it  should  everywhere  triumph.  Such 
is  not  the  language  heard  in  America  from  men 
competent  to  form  an  impartial  judgment.  There 
we  find  them  asking,  "  Is  America  as  peaceable,  as 
orderly,  as  happy  in  its  internal  affairs,  as  a  perfect 
form  of  government,  aided  by  unlimited  resources, 
ought  to  make  it  ?  Does  it  knit  all  classes  together, 
as  European  reformers,  who  desire  to  see  all  nations 
model  their  governments  after  our  pattern,  appear 
to  suppose  ?  Are  we  quite  free  from  class  prejudices, 
from  sectional  differences,  from  jealousies  of  party 
and  faction  ?  Do  we  actually  place  all  men  on  a 
political  equality,  or  have  we  only  reversed  the  ancient 
injustices  of  class?"  And  there  it  is  also  said,  by 
men  of  long  experience,  "  The  English  government 
is  the  only  one  in  the  world  likely  to  last,  and  the 
only  one  which  is  just  and  equal  in  its  treatment  of 
all  classes  of  the  people."  Nothing  is  more  common 
than  to  hear  men  in  positions  of  the  highest  authority 
deplore  the  fact  that  there  seems  no  possibility  of 
placing  any  limits  upon  the  suffrage  in  America. 
An  equal  representation  of  the  people  is  not  at- 


130  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VU. 

tained  under  the  American  system.  All  the  power 
is  lodged  in  the  hands  of  one  class,  and  that  class  the 
one  least  fit  to  govern.19  The  House  of  Commons 
since  the  year  1832  has  been  said  to  be  an  epitome 
of  the  English  nation  ;  the  House  of  Representatives 
is  nothing  but  a  deputation  from  the  least  cultivated 
classes  of  America.  There  is  no  great  interest,  whe 
ther  of  labour  or  capital,  in  the  world  of  commerce 
or  the  world  of  thought,  which  has  not  hitherto  been 
faithfully  reflected  and  honestly  guarded,  without 
detriment  to  other  interests,  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons.  Property  does  not  obtain  all  the  representa 
tion,  and  even  the  men  who  are  supposed  to  represent 
property  are  not  as  a  rule  unwilling  to  do  justice  to 
labour.  Learning  is  not  without  the  influence  which 
justly  belongs  to  it,  and  although  it  may  have  been 
that  there  were  classes  in  the  nation  which  were  not 
represented  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  yet  it 
would  be  untrue  to  assert  that  any  class  was  left 
totally  unrepresented.  No  one  who  has  seen  the 
American  Congress  in  working,  or  who  is  properly 
aware  of  the  constituents  of  which  it  must  necessarily 
be  formed,  will  ever  be  able  to  look  but  with  pro 
found  anxiety  and  apprehension  upon  an  attempt  to 


19  «  Those  who  attempt  to  level  never  equalise.  la  all  societies, 
consisting  of  various  descriptions  of  citizens,  some  description  must 
be  uppermost.  The  levellers,  therefore,  only  change  and  pervert 
the  natural  order  of  things;  they  load  the  edifice  of  society  by 
setting  up  iu  tho  air  what  the  solidity  of  the  structure  requires 
to  be  on  the  ground."— Burke  s  '  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in 
France.' 


CHAF.  VII.    BQUAL  SUFFBAGE  NOT  EQUAL  REPRESENTATION.     131 

make  the  House  of  Commons  exactly  like  it.  The  ig 
norant  choose  the  ignorant  to  represent  them.  Equal 
suffrage  can  never  lead  to  equal  representation.  The 
class  which  is  no  less  the  honour  and  mainstay  of 
a  nation 'than  the  labouring  class,  are  disfranchised, 
and  are  rendered  utterly  powerless  to  save  their 
country  from  any  dangers  which  they  may  see  before 
it.  There  are  able  and  honest  men  in  Congress,  but, 
like  the  honest  and  intelligent  electors  in  a  con 
stituency,  they  have  little  or  no  influence,  for  they 
are  overmatched  by  numbers.  The  majority  know 
that  to  keep  their  seats  it  is  only  necessary  to  flatter 
the  poorer  classes,  and  pander  to  their  worst  preju 
dices.  It  is  a  general  and  unscrupulous  sycophancy 
of  the  lowest  orders  of  the  community.  No  other 
class  is  worth  soliciting,  for  there  is  no  other  which 
possesses  political  power.  Integrity  is  regarded 
as  a  weakness.  Official  station  is  only  valued  be 
cause  "  it  confers  the  opportunity  to  make  monev, 
and  to  enrich  relatives  and  friends.  The  consequence 
has  been  a  degree  of  corruption  disgraceful  to  the 
country  and  the  age.  Bribery  is  almost  acknow 
ledged  as  a  part  of  legislation,  whilst  dishonest  jobs 
and  contracts  so  abound  that  they  are  regarded  as 
things  of  course."  These  are  not  the  words  of  a 
hater  of  democracy  or  of  America.  It  is  a  descrip 
tion  by  an  American  writer  of  good  repute  of  his 
own  country.20  And  the  same  writer  has  the  courage 


20  See  Fisher's  '  Trial  of  the  Constitution '  (Philadelphia,  18(52, 
p.  346. 

K   2 


132  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII. 

(and  it  needs  no  small  courage)  to  tell  his  country 
men  plainly  that  the  English  constitution  is  infinitely 
wiser,  and  better  for  the  people,  than  theirs.  "  The 
great  uprising  of  the  nation,"  he  says,  "  is  a  proof 
that  the  electoral  machine  has  not  worked  well ; 
that  if  it  winnows  the  opinions  of  the  people,  it 
gives  them  not  the  grain  but  the  chaff,  and  that 
some  other  machine  is  imperatively  demanded  to 
represent  their  intelligence  and  moral  sentiment." 2l 
The  purification  of  the  suffrage  is  the  only  conceiv 
able  remedy,  and  that  is  an  impracticable  one. 

So  far,  indeed,  from  restricting  the  franchise,  the 
irresistible  course  of  events  must  lead  to  its  indefinite 
extension.  Mr.  Justice  Story  tells  us  that  no  one 
has  demanded  or  conceded  the  right  to  universal 
suffrage ;  but  who  is  to  say  to  an  uncontrolled  force, 
constantly  increasing  in  momentum,  Thus  far  shall 
thou  come  and  no  farther?  The  day  is  not  dis 
tant  when  universal  suffrage  will  be  demanded  by 
the  people,  and  whenever  it  is  demanded  it  must  be 
conceded.  Already,  as  we  have  seen,  the  door  is 
opened  to  all  comers  in  some  of  the  Western  States. 
The  admission  of  women  and  minors  to  the  franchise 
is  constantly  discussed  as  one  of  the  political  possi 
bilities  of  the  hour.  The  Legislature  of  Kansas  ha> 
already  voted  for  woman  suffrage,  and  in  the  New 

-1  Ibid,  p.  350.  See  also  the  New  York  'Round  Table'  of 
October  5,  1867,  in  which  the  following  passage  occurs: — "The 
tendency  to  the  elevation  of  ignorant,  superficial,  and  conceited  men 
to  places  which  can  be  filled  only  by  the  wise;  ond  thoughtful  is 
stronger  than  ever  in  our  country,  ami  our  capacity  to  govern 
ourselves  is  growing  less  every  day." 


CHAP.  VII.  WOMEN    AND    BOYS    AS    VOTERS.  133 

York  Convention  of  1867,  called  to  revise  the  State 
Laws,  several  propositions  were  brought  forward 
to  admit  women,  and  boys  of  eighteen,  to  the  privi 
leges  of  the  ballot.  The  old  limitations  and  restric 
tions  are  being  contemptuously  swept  away.  "The 
progress  and  impulse  of  popular  opinion,"  laments 
Chancellor  Kent,  "  is  rapidly  destroying  every  con 
stitutional  check,  every  conservative  element  in 
tended  by  the  sages  who  framed  the  earliest  American 
Constitution  as  safeguards  against  the  abuses  of 
popular  suffrage."2 

It  is  in  vain  that  the  small  and  almost  powerless 
independent  press  of  the  country  warns  the  people 
of  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  system  to  which  they 
seem  so  immoveably  attached.23  The  public  man 


22  'Commentaries,'  i.  sect.  582. 

23  The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  article  entitled  '  Delusion 
s  the  Basis  of  Government,'  published  in  the, '  Eouud  Table,'  New 

fork,  Nov.  17,  1866  :— 

"  With  every  election  the  evidence  accumulates  that  the  framers 
of  our  Governim-nt  reckoned  falsely  in  relying  upon  the  existence 
among  the  populace  of  sufficient  discernment  of  what  is  for  the 
public  good,  together  with  sufficient  honesty  and  patriotism  to 
secure  it.  Each  year  shows  an  increase  of  ignorance  and  prejudice 
among  the  voters,  and  a  lessened  efficiency  and  integrity  among  the 
rulers,  until  our  various  legislative  bodies,  speaking  generally,  have 
come  to  be  mere  assemblages  of  incompetent  or  self-seeking  no 
bodies.  It  has  become  of  less  and  less  use  for  educated  men  to  vote ; 
their  recommendation  of  men  or  measures  meets  no  attention ;  they 
seldom  have  an  opportunity  to  vote  for  a  candidate  in  whom  they  can 
discern  fitness  for  office ;  and  so  the  higher  social  classes  have  pretty 
much  ceased  to  have  anything  to  do  with  our  government. 

"  It  is  all  very  well  for  enthusiasts  at  a  distance  to  hold  us  forth 
to  audiences  also  at  a  distance  as  an  instance  of  the  inseparable  con 
nection  lx?tween  popular  enlightenment  and  self-government.  Tho 


134  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  Vll 

who  ventured  to  make  in  his  place  in  Congress  a 
proposition  to  contract  the  suffrage  would  find  it 
impossible  to  preserve  his  seat  in  the  assembly.  All 
can  see  the  danger,  but  none  dare  attempt  to  point 
out  the  proper  means  of  warding  it  off.  Even  the 
least  apprehensive  can  find  no  better  hope  than  in 
the  education  of  the  masses.  That  is  their  strongest 
security  against  the  misuse  of  political  power. 
Before  men  are  fit  to  exercise  the  privilege  of  the 
suffrage  they  must  be  educated,  it  is  said.  But 
meanwhile  they  are  allowed  to  exercise  it.  Moreover, 
unless  an  educational  test  be  applied,  how  is  the 
educational  qualification  of  the  voter  to  be  ascer 
tained  ?  The  masses  would  resist  any  such  test. 


incomprehensible  national  ve.nity  which  prevents  our  acknowledging 
any  truths  to  our  disadvantage,  has  so  far  concealed  from  the  eyes  of 
the  world  the  growing  mistrust  by  thinking  unpolitical  Americans 
of  the  stability  of  the  imposing  fabric  we  have  reared  on  the  sands  of 
popular  caprice,  that  republicanism  is  considered  abroad  to  have 
achieved  a  success  of  which  we  at  home  are  by  no  means  so  assured. 
The  style  of  electioneering  arguments  in  vogue  in  every  election,  the 
irrelevant  puerilities  of  the  partisan  press,  the  impunity  with  which 
it  relies  upon  the  credulity  and  passions  of  the  voters,  the  ease  with 
which  demagogues  marshal  their  rabble  to  the  polls ;  the  fact  that 
the  utterly  stupid,  vicious,  and  degraded  classes  of  the  community 
can  at  any  time,  by  sufficiently  good  management,  be  made  to  turn 
the  scale  between  parties — such  considerations  as  these  must  con 
vince  any  mind  open  to  conviction  of  the  futility  of  hoping  to  make 
a  safe  government  of  such  material. 

"Nothing  could  well  be  more  gloomy  than  the  polit,ir»al  prospect 
which  this  state  of  tilings  has  procured  us.  The  most  persistently 
sanguine  theorists  have  for  some  time  given  over  discovering  any 
cheerful  promise,  or,  if  they  have  done  so,  have  found  none  to  attend 
to  them.  No  party,  no  statesman,  offers  us  a  way  of  extrication  from 
our  perilous  situation.'' 


CHAP.  VIL  WEBSTER'S  THEORIES.  135 

Nothing  can  be  more  curious  than  to  mark  the 
visionary  and  delusive  view  which  some  of  America's 
greatest  men  have  taken  of  the  suffrage.  The  sup 
position  is,  Webster  tells  us,  that  in  using  the  suffrage 
"men  will  act  conscientiously,  under  the  influence 
of  public  principle  and  patriotic  duty,  and  that  in 
supporting  men  or  n.easures  there  will  be  a  general 
prevalence  of  honest  intelligent  judgment  and  manly 
independence."  In  what  age  of  the  world  did  this 
eminent  statesman  suppose  that  the  motives  and 
instincts  of  mankind  would  be  so  supernaturally 
changed,  as  to  bring  them  to  the  practice  of  these 
principles  ?  When  is  this  reign  of  celestial  purity 
and  peace  to  begin,  and  who  is  to  rule  over  the 
kingdom  ?  And  is  it  in  an  enthusiast's  dream  only 
that  we  can  hope  to  see  the  American  democracy 
bearing  that  excellent  and  peri'ect  fruit  which  is  to 
satisfy  all  who  partake  of  it,  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  high  and  the  low,  he  who  has  much  and  he 
who  has  little,  alike  ? 

It  is  true  that  in  America  the  injurious  conse 
quences  of  universal  suffrage  are  modified  by  the 
condition  of  society  which  has  previously  been  re 
ferred  to,  namely,  the  distribution  of  land  among 
small  proprietors  all  over  the  country.  This  alone 
would  suffice  to  prevent  that  general  and  periodical 
wreck  of  property  which  some  have  supposed  would 
be  wrought  by  the  free  admission  of  all  classes  to 
the  franchise.  But  it  does  not  provide  any  guarantee 
that  the  powers  of  the  government  will  be  intrusted 


136  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII, 

to  the  most  worthy  and  competent  hands.  Even  in 
the  rural  districts,  where  the  strength  of  the  nation 
really  lies,  the  people  may  often  be  led  astray  by 
interested  politicians,  and  with  the  greater  facility 
because  of  the  unsuspiciousness  and  sincerity  of  their 
nature.  Removed  from  the  hotbeds  of  political  in 
trigue,  too  much  occupied  in  their  daily  labours  to 
follow  the  course  of  minor  events,  rarely  troubling 
themselves  with  the  extreme  views  of  either  party, 
they  are  easily  amenable  to  the  arguments  and 
representations  of  a  man  who  comes  before  them 
with  a  specious  embodiment  of  opinions  which  he 
has  endeavoured  to  adapt  to  their  prejudices.  But, 
although  constituencies  may  be  misled  for  a  time, 
the  common  sense  of  an  eminently  practical  people 
will  prevent  a  total  subversion  of  the  framework 
of  society.  The  great  body  of  the  working  classes 
have  a  material  stake  in  the  well-being  and  stability 
of  the  commonwealth.  The  most  potent  of  all  mo 
tives,  self-interest,  restrains  them  from  running  into 
extreme  excesses.  Hence  the  fears  which  are  enter 
tained  of  universal  suffrage  in  England  are  un 
known  in  America.  In  the  latter  country,  there 
are  physical  conditions  which  render  the  widest 
extension  of  the  suffrage  comparatively  harmless. 
Unless  these  conditions  could  be  enjoyed  in  Eng 
land,  and  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  be, 
it  is  folly  to  talk  of  making  the  English  elective 
system  the  counterpart  of  the  American.  It  would 
be  as  reasonable  to  propose  to  repeat  the  feudal 


CHAP.  VII.     DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA.      137 

system  in  America.  The  greatest  objection  of 
moderate  reformers  in  England  to  unrestricted  suf 
frage  is  that  the  lawful  rights  of  property  would 
be  violated.  "I  entertain  no  hope,"  said  Lord 
Macaulay,  "  that,  if  we  place  the  government  of  the 
kingdom  in  the  hands  of  the  majority  of  the  males 
of  one-and-twenty  told  by  the  head,  the  institution 
of  property  will  be  respected."24  Such  a  statement 
applied  to  America  would  be  absurd,  for  there  the 
property  is  at  present  distributed  among  small 
holders.  Not  without  reason  is  it  contended  that  a 
vast  revolution  would  be  the  ultimate  issue  of  the 
attempt  to  engraft  Republican  theories  upon  an 
ancient  government.  All  circumstances  must  be 
changed  to  assure  the  success  of  such  an  experi 
ment.  If  it  were  possible  to  give  to  England 
the  surplus  lands  of  America,  it  would  be  a  matter 
scarcely  worth  contending  for,  so  far  as  regards  the 
security  of  property  alone,  what  form  of  suffrage 
should  be  adopted.  In  densely  populated  countries, 
where  periods  of  distress  are  liable  to  recur,  the 
people  are  apt  to  turn  upon  the  government  and 
rend  it  for  consequences  which  no  government  can 
avert.  Lord  Macaulay  justly  described  the  condi 
tions  which  are  indispensable  to  the  safe  working  of 
unlimited  suffrage,  when  he  said,  in  his  speech  on 
Parliamentary  Reform  in  1831,  "  If  the  labourers  of 
England  were  in  that  state  in  which  I,  from  my  soul, 

24  Speech  on  the  People's  Charter.     Works  (ed.  1866),  vol.  viii. 
p.  222. 


138    .  UNIVERSAL   SUFFRAGE.  CHAP.  VII. 

wish  to  see  them,  if  employment  were  always  plenti 
ful,  wages  always  high,  food  always  cheap,  if  a  large 
family  were  considered  not  as  an  encumbrance  but 
a  blessing,  the  principal  objections  to  Universal  Suf 
frage  would,  I  think,  be  removed."  These  have  been 
the  advantages  possessed  by  the  United  States,  but 
it  is  beyond  the  power  of  reformers  to  bestow  them 
upon  England.25 

The  principle  of  democracy,  according  to  an  autho 
rity  who  is  never  contradicted  in  America,  is  that 
"  everybody  should  be  represented,  and  that  every 
body  should  be  represented  equally."26  Judged  by 


25  Those  who  suppose  that  in  order  to  remove  all  causes  of  dis 
content  in  England  we  have  only  to  adopt  the  American  form  of 
government,  would  do  well  to  read  the  debutes  in  the  Federal  Con 
vention  which  planned  the  Constitution.     They  would  there  meet 
witli  sentiments  like  the  following  : — "  In  his  private  opinion,  lie  had 
no  scruple  in  declaring,  supported  as  he  was  by  the  opinion  of  so 
many  of  the  wise  and  goo  1,  that  the  British  Government  was  the 
best  in  the  world,  and  that  he  doubted  much  whether  anything  short 
of  it  would  do  in  America."      This  was  said   by  Mr.    Hamilton. 
(Madison's  '  Eeports '  (Elliot,  v.),  p.  202.)   Mr.  Hamilton  represented 
New  York.     In  the  same  spirit  Mr.  Sherman  said  he  thought  '•  the 
people  immediately  should  have  as  little  to  do  as  may  be  about 
the  government."     Mr.  Geary  said,  "  The  evils  we  experience  flow 
from  the  excess  of  democracy.''     Upon  the  re-solution  that  the  House 
of  Representatives  should  be  elected  directly  by  the  people  instead 
of  by  the  State  Legislatures,  as  had  been  proposed,  six  States  voted 
for,  and  two  (New  York  and  North  Carolina)  against,  while  two 
others  (Connecticut  and  Delaware)  were  divided.     But  the  prin 
ciples  laid  down  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  volume  were  unques 
tionably  those  which  were  held  by  the  majority,  and  which  have 
ever  since  governed  the  country,  and  derived  fresh  vitality  and  force 
from  the  lapse  of  time. 

26  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mil),  in  the  House  of  Commons,  May  80th, 
1867. 


CHAP.  VII.       FAILURE    OF    THE    REPRESENTATIVE    SYSTEM.          139 

this  standard,  the  American  theory  of  representation 
is  the  greatest  fallacy  by  which  an  intelligent  people 
has  ever  been  deluded.  In  othej  systems  minorities 
are  at  least  partially  represented,  but  in  the  United 
States  they  are  practically  disfranchised.  The 
best  educated,  highest  minded  class  in  America 
are  unrepresented,  not  only  in  Congress,  but  in 
the  Legislatures  of  their  States.  The  returns  of  the 
election  for,  1866  will  best  illustrate  the  injustice 
which  is  done  to  minorities.  Thirteen  States  (ex 
cluding  those  which  seceded,  and  were  entirely 
unrepresented)  were  left  without  a  single  Democratic 
member  in  Congress,  although  the  Democratic  vote  in 
each  State  was  very  large.  To  give  a  few  instances — 
the  vote  in  Iowa  was  91,227  Republican  and  55,815 
Democrat.  Had  the  system  worked  equitably,  the 
State  would  have  had  four  Republican  members  and 
two  Democrats.  But  the  small  majority  took  away 
the  Democratic  share,  and  Iowa  was  represented 
by  six  Republicans.  Massachusetts  had  her  entire 
delegation  of  ten  members  Republican,  the  vote  cast 
being  91,880  to  26,671— and  thus  the  minority  ought 
to  have  had  two  members  and  the  majority  eight 
only.  In  New  York  the  proportionate  representation 
in  Congress  would  have  been  sixteen  Republicans  and 
fifteen  Democrats,  the  vote  being  366,315  on  the 
Republican  against  352,526  on  the  Democratic  side. 
The  actual  representation  of  the  minority  was  only 
eleven,  the  majority  gaining  twenty  members.  In 
Pennsylvania  the  vote  was  307,274  against  290,096, 


140  UNIVERSAL    SUFFRAGE —  CHAP.  VII. 

and  the  representation  was  eighteen  to  six,  whereas 
it  should  have  been  thirteen  to  eleven.  In  this  last 
case  the  majority  was  only  8587  votes — or  abont  one 
vote  in  a  thousand  of  the  voting  population  of  the 
State — and  by  that  it  gained  five  members  more 
than  it  was  fairly  entitled  to.  The  State  of  Ohio  wa ; 
represented  by  three  Democrats  and  sixteen  Repub 
licans — and  yet  the  Democratic  voters  numbered 
211,690,  and  the  Republicans  no  more  than  254,090. 
Take  another  instance  :  in  the  thirty-ninth  Congress27 
1,600,000  voters  in  the  North  and  West  gained  only 
thirty  representatives  in  Congress,  while  2,000,000 
voters  in  the  same  section  of  country  were  represented 
by  128  members. 

These  inequalities,  and  many  others  which  might 
be  cited,  have  more  than  once  been  the  subject 
of  discussion  in  Congress,  and  various  means  of  re 
dressing  the  injustice  to  the  minority  have  been 
proposed.  One  of  the  most  recent  of  these  attempts 
was  made  in  the  United  States  Senate  by  a  member28 
who  proposed  the  adoption  of  the  system  of  cumu 
lative  voting,  beginning  with  the  Southern  States, 
which,  being  absolutely  under  the  control  of  Congress, 
are  deemed  a  convenient  subject  for  any  experi 
ments.  It  was  urged  that  the  majority  in  a  Con 
gressional  district,  however  small,  obtained  the  whole 
representation  of  that  district,  whereas,  if  people  were 
allowed  to  vote  upon  the  cumulative  plan,  the  mino* 


=7  1865-67.  »  Senator  Buckalew,  on  the  llth  July,  1867. 


CHAP.  VII.  CONDEMNED    BY    AMERICAN    WRITERS.  141 

rity  would  be  able  to  secure  at  least  one  member. 
But  the  Senate  declined  to  take  any  step  towards 
the  proposed  reform,  and  the  governing  party  of  the 
clay  is  never  likely  to  assent  to  a  change  which 
would  be  its  own  death-blow  at  the  next  election.29 


29  The  following  extracts,  from  a  report  of  the  Personal  Kepresen- 
tation  Society  of  New  York,  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1867, 
fully  substantiate  the  charges  made  against  the  representative 
system  of  the  United  States  : — 

"It  is  a  bold  thing  to  say  that  throughout  the  Union  our  civil 
policy  in  regard  to  representation  is  a  mistake  and  therefore  a 
failure,  but  a  slight  examination  of  the  principles  upon  which  repre 
sentation  is  based  may  serve  to  convince  you,  as  it  has  served  to 
convince  us,  of  this  truth.  If  we  were  to  draw  a  bill  of  indictment 
against  our  present  electoral  scheme,  we  should  first  and  foremost 
set  forth  that  it  is  a  sham,  that  it  is  not  what  it  pretends  to  be,  that 
it  does  not  eifect  the  representation  of  the  people,  but  only  a  part  of 
the  people.  We  have  shown  that  our  present  system  is  unphiloso- 
phical,  and  results  in  evils  so  flagrant  and  so  manifest,  that  they  not 
only  make  our  legislation  and  the  venality  of  our  legislators  a  by-word 
and  a  reproach,  but  also  retard  the  progress  of  republican  and 
democratic  institutions  the  world  over,  by  having  the  evils,  arising 
from  our  faulty  system  of  election,  laid  to  the  door  of  democracy 
itself.' 


142  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAJ?.  VJII 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


PARTY   GOVERNMENT. 

ALREADY  we  have  repeatedly  found  it  necessary  to 
dwell  upon  the  evil  results  which  flow  from  the 
organization  and  supremacy  of  party  rule  in  the 
United  States.  That  rule  has  done  more  than  any 
thing  else  to  pervert  the  true  principles  of  the  govern 
ment.  It  has  lowered  and  changed  the  original 
character  of  those  national  institutions  to  which  men 
like  Washington,  and  Hamilton,  and  Madison  were 
most  deeply  attached.  It  takes  possession  of  the 
entire  political  system,  and  wrests  it  into  an  in 
strument  for  the  advancement  of  personal  interests. 
A  rapid  and  incessant  deterioration  is  progressing  in 
each  department  of  the  public  service.  There  are 
still  some  countries  left  in  the  world  in  which  the 
history  of  great  parties  is  a  portion  of  the  history  of 
great  principles  and  ideas,  for  which  a  persistent,  if 
not  always  a  generous,  struggle  is  kept  up  genera 
tion  after  generation.1'  In  America  it  is  a  record 


1  See,  for  example,  Mr.  Wingrove  Cooke's  '  History  of  Party '  in 
England  (Lond.  1832  '.  But,  probably,  could  this  author  have  lived 
to  bring  his  work  down  to  the  present  time,  the  moral  of  it  would  be 
very  different. 


CHAT.  VIII.  PARTY   DESPOTISM.  143 

of  perpetual  contests  for  the  aggrandisement  of  indi 
viduals,  who  at  the  best  unworthily  reflect  sectional 
discords  and  hatreds,  and  of  cliques  which  know 
no  sentiment  higher  than  that  of  securing  power 
in  order  that  profit  may  be  gained  by  it.  Hence, 
the  least  deserving  men  too  often  contrive  to  seize 
the  leadership.  They  govern  their  forces  with 
a  rod  of  iron,  and  do  not  hesitate  to  adopt  the 
most  unscrupulous  expedients  to  extend  thejr  sphere 
of  dominion.  According  to  Burke,  "  party  is  a  body 
of  men  united  for  promoting,  by  their  joint  endea 
vours,  the  national  interest,  upon  some  particular 
principle  in  which  they  are  all  agreed."  It  is  not 
too  much  to  affirm  that  politicians  seldom  rise  to  this 
view  of  party  in  the  American  republic.  Many  turn 
to  public  life  distinctly  and  avowedly  as  a  means  of 
making  money.  It  is  a  paying  trade.  Self-interests 
are  the  first  consideration  ;  the  interest  of  the  nation 
is  entirely  secondary,  and  sometimes  it  is  impossible 
to  detect  the  evidence  of  its  being  taken  into  account 
at  all.  An  English  historian  may  see  abundant 
cause,  in  looking  back  upon  the  great  victories  or 
defeats  which  have  chequered  the  course  of  party  in 
his  country,  to  exclaim,  "By  argument  and  discus 
sion  truth  is  discovered,  public  opinion  is  expressed, 
and  a  free  people  are  trained  to  self-government. 
Who  can  fail  to  recognise  in  party  the  very  life- 
blood  of  freedom  ?  " 2  No  such  eulogy  will  ever  be 

2  T.  Erskine  May's  '  Constitutional  History  of  England,'  chapter 
viii.,  conclusion. 


144  PARTY   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII. 

pronounced  upon  party  in  America  by  the  candid 
and  truthful  historian.  There,  argument  and  discus 
sion  are  easily  suppressed  in  the  popular  branch  of 
the  Legislature,  and  a  tyranny  unheard  of  under 
other  constitutional  governments  is  imposed  upon  the 
minority.  The  circumstances  amid  which  Congress 
does  its  daily  work  reflect  greater  light  on  these 
abuses  of  power  than  general  statements  could  do, 
and  a  short  iiccount  of  them  will  tell  its  own  story.3 

The  House  of  Representatives  is  sufficiently  spaci 
ous  to  seat  the  658  members  of  the  House  of  Com 
mons  instead  of  its  own  277  members.  It  is  lit  from 
the*  roof,  the  windows  being  of  ground  and  stained 
glass,  with  copies  of  the  arms  of  each  State  in  the 
centre  of  the  squares.  The  Speaker  sits  close  to  the 
wall  under  one  of  the  galleries,  with  a  large  brass 
eagle  and  two  flags  above  his  head.  The  desks  of 
the  members  are  placed  in  a  semicircle  in  front 
of  the  Speaker,  and  around  the  hall  run  the  galle 
ries  for  stran'gers,  large  enough  to  hold  1500  persons. 
People  walk  in  and  out  as  they  please;  the  only 
restriction  being  that  into  some  galleries  men  cannot 
go  unless  they  are  accompanied  by  ladies.  There  is 
sometimes  much  noise  and  confusion  in  these  public 
galleries,  and  very  often  the  discussions  below  are 
interrupted  by  applause.  In  the  Senate  (which  is 
in  outward  peculiarities  only  a  smaller  copy  of  the 

3  The  descriptions  here  given  were  written  by  the  author  in  the 
course  of  several  Sessions,  and  are  now  partly  borrowed  from  his 
letters  to  '  The  Times.' 


rHAP.VIII.  FORMS    OF    THE    HOUSE.  145 

House)  these  demonstrations  are  always  promptly 
suppressed,  and  indeed  in  that  Chamber  the  proceed 
ings  are  invariably  conducted  with  greater  order  and 
dignity  than  in  the  other.  But  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  there  are  only  sixty  Senators  at  present 
entitled  to  seats,  and  of  this  number  there  are  often 
scarcely  a  score  in  their  places  except  when  votes 
are  being  taken,  whereas  there  are  in  the  House 
a  hundred  and  ninety-one  Eepresentatives,  most  of 
them  present  every  day.  The  eighty-six  members 
representing  the  Southern  States  are  excluded. 

Upon  the  opening  of  a  new  Session  the  Speaker  of 
the  House  is  elected  by  ballot.  The  oldest  "consecu 
tive  "  member  swears  him  in,  and  afterwards  the 
Speaker  administers  the  oath  to  all  the  members. 
He  does  not  wear  any  distinctive  dress,  and,  when  he 
is  tired  of  occupying  the  Chair,  he  sends  a  message  to 
any  member  he  may  please  to  select,  and  places  him 
in  authority  over  the  House  for  that  day  only.  He 
generally  alludes  to  himself  as  the  "  Chair,"  in  this 
form—"  The  Chair  thinks  the  ayes  have  it,"  or  "  The 
Chair  does  not  hear  any  gentleman  object ;"  and  his 
decision  on  a  point  of  order,  or  upon  any  other  question 
that  may  arise,  i>  not  final,  but  may  be  disputed  by 
any  member.  It  is  then  put  to  the  House  whether  it 
will  support  the  Speaker's  decision  or  not,  and  if,  on 
a  division,  the  votes  are  equal,  the  Speaker  can  give 
the  casting  vote  sustaining  his  decision  —  an  inci 
dent  which  has  happened  on  several  occasions.  The 
Speaker  is  also  at  liberty  to  vacate  the  Chair,  and 

L 


146  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIIL 

join  at  any  time  in  the  debates.  He  has  great  con 
trol  over  the  management  of  a  discussion,  by  being 
able  to  call  upon  speakers  of  his  own  party  rather 
than  upon  the  opposition,  but  this  advantage  is  not 
always  allowed  to  be  exercised.  An  able  speaker, 
sure  of  commanding  the  attention  of  the  House, 
cannot  be  suppressed  by  these  rough  devices.  In 
restoring  order  the  Speaker  knocks  on  his  desk  with 
a  hammer,  and  occasionally  has  to  knock  loud  and 
often  before  his  appeals  are  heeded.  This  is  also  the 
custom  in  the  Senate,  and  the  method  of  conducting 
business  is  almost  identical  in  both  Chambers. 

When  a  division  is  demanded,  there  are  three  ways 
of  taking  the  votes.  First,  the  members  stand  up 
and  are  counted  by  the  Speaker ;  but  if  any  member 
is  not  satisfied,  he  may  demand  tellers,  whereupon 
two  members  are  named  by  the  Speaker,  and  the 
House  passes  between  them.  Or  a  member  may 
demand  the  "  yeas  and  nays,"  and  if  one-fifth  of  the 
House  sustains  the  demand  (which  the  Speaker  can 
tell  by  his  eye,  the  assenting  members  holding  up 
their  hands)  the  names  are  called  over,  and  by  the 
rules  each  member  is  compelled  to  vote,  unless  he  is 
excused  by  the  House — but  this  is  not  adhered  to. 
A  member  may  let  his  name  be  called  and  make  no 
answer,  and  yet  have  his  vote  recorded  when  the  roll 
is  finished,  by  rising  in  his  place — having,  perhaps, 
been  anxious  to  see  first  how  his  colleagues,  or  the 
members  of  his  own  way  of  thinking,  intended  to 
vote.  In  the  House,  members  appear  to  be  allowed 


"feAP.  VIII.  CONGRESSIONAL    DEBATES.  147 

t_>  speak  as  often  as  they  please  to  the  same  Bill, 
but  the  Senate  has  a  rule  that  "  no  member  shall 
speak  more  than  twice  in  any  one  debate  on  the  same 
day,  without  leave  of  the  Senate."  Unless  upon  the 
specific  demand  of  a  member,  the  rules  are  seldom 
rigorously  enforced.  In  the  House,  a  member  is  not 
allowed  to  speak  longer  than  an  hour  at  one  time,  un 
less  special  permission  be  given.  A  member  may  only 
desire  to  speak  for  five  minutes,  but,  having  obtained 
possession  of  the  floor,  he  has  a  right  to  hold  it 
for  a  full  hour,  and  he  may  divide  the  surplus  of  his 
time  among  his  friends.  Thus  it  is  very  common  to 
hear  a  member  say,  <;  I  yield  the  floor  for  ten  minutes 
to  the  member  from  Maine,"  "  Now  I  yield  it  for  five 
minutes  to  the  member  from  Pennsylvania,"  and  so 
on,  till  he  has  accommodated  all  his  friends,  or  his 
hour  is  expired.  The  Speaker,  of  course,  decides  when 
each  member's  allotted  portion  of  the  hour  is  gone. 

The  patience  with  which  even  the  dreariest  of 
speakers  is  tolerated,  both  in  the  Senate  and  the 
House,  is  one  of  the  most  striking  features  of  Con 
gress.  A  member  pulls  out  an  immense  roll  of 
manuscript,  and  endeavours  to  arouse  himself  into 
animation  over  the  sentences  which  he  has  labo 
riously  prepared.  The  House  cannot  be  said  to 
listen  to  what  he  says,  but  it  is  perfectly  quiet, 
and  never  interrupts.  These  essays  are  all  printed 
in  extenso  in  the  '  Congressional  Globe,'  and  thus  an 
insignificant  member  is  often  reported  through  fifteen 
or  twenty  columns  of  this  paper,  at  the  expense  of 

L  2 


148  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII. 

the  Government,  it  need  scarcely  be  said.  Some 
times  a  member  asks  permission  of  the  House  to  take 
his  speech  as  read,  and  it  is  then  printed  in  the 
'  Globe  '  as  if  it  had  been  actually  delivered.  It  will 
be  obvious  at  once  how  much  this  arrangement 
encourages  laxity  of  debate,  and  how  hopeless  would 
be  the  attempt  to  confine  members  to  the  subject 
before  the  House.  The  Government  pays  the  pro 
prietors  of  the  *  Globe '  a  stated  price  for  every 
printed  column,  and  it  takes  in  addition  five-and- 
twenty  copies  of  each  day's  issue  for  every  member. 

All  through  the  Session  of  Congress,  there  are  cer 
tain  days  set  apart  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  the  convenience  of  members  who  wish  to  make 
known  their  views  on  public  affairs.  They  are  called 
"  speech  days,"  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  Session 
every  member  who  intends  to  address  the  House  has 
his  name  entered  upon  a  list  which  is  afterwards 
kept  by  the  Speaker.  This  list  is  constantly  length 
ening,  for  one  day  will  only  get  rid  of  perhaps  half-a- 
dozen  names,  while  in  the  course  of  a  week  twenty 
new  ones  will  be  added,  so  that  at  the  close  of  a  Ses 
sion  there  is  hardly  any  hope  for  the  members  who 
stand  last  on  the  roll.  The  names  are  called  by  the 
Speaker  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  entered,  and 
it  often  happens  that  a  gentleman  is  required  to  de 
liver  an  essay  which  he  prepared  four  months  before, 
and  which  has  little  or  no  bearing  upon  any  question 
of  the  hour.  On  these  occasions  the  House  has  a 
deserted  and  sombre  appearance;  oftentimes  there 


CHAP.  VIII.        THE    LICENCE    ALLOWED   TO    SPEAKERS.  149 

are  not  more  than  forty  members  present,  who 
are  lost  in  that  large  chamber,  and  they  amuse 
themselves  by  reading  the  newspapers  or  writing 
letters.  The  Speaker  writes  his  letters  also,  merely 
pausing  to  look  at  what  time  a  speaker  begins,  and 
to  knock  with  his  hammer  when  the  prescribed  hour 
is  expired.  The  members  understand  thoroughly 
that  they  are  not  to  look  for  the  attention  of  the 
House,  but  to  have  their  speeches  printed  in 
the  'Globe/  so  that  they  can  send  them  to  their 
constituents,  and  with  that  arrangement  they  are 
perfectly  satisfied.  The  tone  of  these  effusions  may 
be  judged  of  from  a  few  quotations. 

"  The  traitor's  voice  is  hushed,  and  must  be  silent 
for  ever;  the  green  grass  which  grows  upon  the 
patriot's  grave,  the  flowers  which  bloom  around 
their  resting-places,  shall  wave  in  the  triumph  of 
freedom,  and  the  whirlwind  and  the  thunder-cloud 
as  they  sweep  past  their  tombs  re-echo  with  tones 
that  will  shake  the  world." 4 

"  What  name  but  anarchy,  rampant  and  flagrant 
anarchy,  over  which  the  fallen  spirits  and  incarnate 
devils  might  hold  a  jubilee,  would  you  give  to  such  a 
state  of  affairs  as  this  ?  A  little  hell  in  the  family 
all  the  time  !  Oh,  what  a  glorious  Government  that 
would  be !  Freedom's  soil  beneath  our  feet !  and 
freedom's  banner  streaming  o'er  us !  The  home  of 
the  free  and  the  hope  of  the  brave  ! " 5 

4  Speech  of  Mr.  McKee,  of  Kentucky. 
6  Mr.  Dumout,  of  Indiana. 


150  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII. 

"The  Constitution  of  our  country  was  formed 
upon  the  model  which  the  great  Architect  of  the 
universe  established  when  He  formed  this  planetary 
system  of  ours." 6 

If  these  "occasional"  days  seem  often  to  justify 
the  traditional  impressions  of  Congress  —  namely, 
that  it  is  a  scene  of  confusion,  in  which  wild  decla 
mation  and  nonsense  are  all  that  can  be  heard, — 
it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  the  other  five 
days  of  the  week  are  far  more  calculated  to  show 
that  these  impressions  are  erroneous.  They  are 
formed  upon  exceptional  incidents,  such  as  some 
of  those  which  have  been  described.  As  a  general 
rule,  there  is  no  want  of  dignity  or  ability  in  the 
manner  in  which  public  business  is  conducted  in 
the  Capitol.  The  man  of  common  sense  is  always 
sure  of  finding  an  appreciative  audience,  and  there 
are  many  men  in  both  Chambers,  whose  powers  as 
public  speakers,  and  whose  great  natural  talents, 
would  elevate  them  to  a  distinguished  position 
wherever  they  might  be  placed.  Congress  has  its 
ludicrous  side,  like  all  other  large  assemblies,  and 
those  who  wish  to  form  a  fair  estimate  of  it  should 
keep  away  from  it  on  the  days  when  inferior  mem 
bers,  or  exceptional  circumstances,  present  it  in  a 
partial  and  unfair  light.  But  there  is  no  redeeming 
circumstance  in  the  measures  which  are  taken  by  the 
dominant  party  to  suppress  discussion.  They  give 


•  Mr.  Hogan. 


CHAP.  VIII.  DEVICES    FOB    STIFLING    DEBATE.  151 

rise  at  times  to  scenes  which  ought  never  to  be  wit 
nessed  in  a  legislative  body.  An  illustration  is  of 
greater  value  than  an  argument,  and  I  shall  therefore 
give  an  account  of  a  spectacle  which  I  witnessed  in 
the  month  of  January,  1867. 

The  occasion  of  this  struggle  was  the  introduction 
of  a  Bill  from  the  Judiciary  Committee,  intended  to 
do  away  with  the  effect  of  a  decision  in  the  Supreme 
Court  as  to  the  illegality  of  the  Test  Oath.  The  Bill 
provided  that  no  person  should  be  permitted  to  act 
as  attorney  or  counsellor  in  any  court  of  the  United 
States  who  had  been  guilty  of  treason  or  engaged 
in  rebellion,  or  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  parti 
cipants  in  rebellion.  In  short,  it  was  intended  to 
prevent,  by  Act  of  Congress,  any  Southern  man  or 
Southern  sympathizer  who  happened  to  be  a  lawyer 
from  practising  his  profession, — thus,  as  a  Repub 
lican  member  afterwards  said,  depriving  thousands 
of  families  of  their  bread. 

This  measure  a  distinguished  Republican,  in  be 
half  of  the  Committee,  determined  to  force  through 
the  House  the  afternoon  it  was  brought  forward, 
without  allowing  a  word  of  discussion  upon  it.  Some 
of  his  own  party,  with  a  better  sense  of  reason  and 
justice,  strongly  condemned  this  course.  He  was  im 
plored  by  the  Democratic  members  to  yield  one  hour 
only  for  debate,  but,  confident  in  the  power  of  his 
party,  he  declined.  To  two  or  three  members  he 
dealt  out  "five  minutes,"  "three  minutes,"  and  to 
one  gentleman  "two  minutes,"  arid  with  this  con- 


152  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VI 11. 

•> 

cession  he  deemed  the  rights  of  a  deliberative  as 
sembly  were  complied  with.  That  immense  propor 
tion  of  the  people  then  represented  in  Congress  who 
were  opposed  to  this  Bill  were  granted,  through 
their  representatives,  about  ten  minutes  to  consider 
its  provisions. 

The  minority,  for  the  sake  of  their  own  honour, 
could  not  suffer  this  Bill  to  be  read  three  times  in  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  without  making  an  attempt  to 
arrest  it.  They  knew  they  were  not  strong  enough 
in  the  House  to  prevent  its  passing  in  the  end,  and 
they  promised  that  if  they  were  allowed  one  hour 
for  debate  they  would  interpose  no  further  opposition. 
The  offer  was  contemptuously  rejected  by  the  other 
side.  "  We  will  keep  you  here  till  you  pass  it,"  said 
the  Republicans.  "  Then,  you  shall  keep  us  here  a 
week,"  said  the  Democrats.  The  only  way  in  which 
the  minority  could  postpone  a  division  on  the  Bill,  was 
by  bringing  forward  a  series  of  motions  to  adjourn, 
and  other  resolutions  intended  only  to  cause  delay. 
These  raanoauvres  were  at  once  put  into  practice. 
On  every  motion  the  minority  demanded  what  is 
called  the  "  yeas  and  nays  " — that  is,  that  the  roll  of 
the  House  shall  be  read,  and  each  member  answer  to 
his  name.  This  most  tedious  process  occupies  nearly 
half-an-hour,  and  it  was  repeated  no  less  than  25 
times  before  either  side  became  tired  out.  The  great 
burden  of  the  struggle  fell  more  upon  the.  Democrats 
than  upon  the  Republicans,  for  several  reasons.  The 
majority  had  force  enough  to  admit  of  relays  going 


CHAP.  VIII  "  FILIBUSTERING  "    IN   CONGRESS.  153 

out  of  the  House  and  obtaining  refreshments.  The 
minority  needed  every  one  of  their  little  band  con 
stantly  in  his  place  to  sustain  the  demand  for  the  yeas 
and  nays,  for  which  purpose  a  fifth  of  the  entire  number 
present  must  vote.  The  minority  had  a  very  few 
more  than  that  fifth,  and  therefore  they  could  not  leave 
their  posts.  Then,  again,  the  brunt  of  the  fight  fell 
upon  them  on  account  of  a  form  of  the  House  which 
the  majority  exercised  against  them.  When  the  yeas 
and  nays  are  asked  for,  a  fifth  must  rote  to  sustain 
the  demand,  and  if  there  is  a  dispute  tellers  are 
required,  and  the  House  is  counted  in  that  way. 
Every  time  the  minority  called  for  the  yeas  and 
nays  the  majority  made  them  march  between  the 
tellers,  and  this  undesirable  exercise  was  kept  up  all 
day  and  all  night,  on  the  meagre  nourishment  of  a 
few  biscuits  and  a  glass  of  water ;  while  the  majority 
sat  comfortably  in  their  arm-chairs,  with  a  good 
dinner  to  keep  them  in  an  even  temper.  The  Demo 
crats,  however,  kept  to  their  hard  work  with  uncon 
querable  resolution.  Amid  many  gibes  from  the 
Republicans,  they  went  through  their  dreary  rounds 
between  the  tellers,  and  made  use  of  every  Parlia 
mentary  expedient  to  delay  action  upon  the  Bill. 
More  than  once  they  repeated  their  offer  to  give  way 
if  but  one  short  hour  was  allowed  them  for  discussion. 
In  a  tone  of  ridicule  and  exultation  the  Radicals 
refused. 

About  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  the  House 
had  been  in  session  eight  hours,  a  large  proportion 


154  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VUL 

of  the  Radicals  had  made  their  escape  from  the 
House,  and  seeing  this  the  Democrats  demanded  a 
call.  This,  of  course,  necessitated  another  division, 
but  the  roll  was  called,  and  the  Sergeant-at-Arms 
despatched  for  the  absent  members.  To  bring  them 
together  was  an  operation  which  required  an  hour  or 
two  to  complete.  At  12  o'clock,  and  again  at  3,  this 
process  was  repeated,  members  being  brought  from 
their  beds  back  to  the  House. 

The  Speaker  was  present  the  greater  part  of  the 
night,  and  did  his  utmost  to  preserve  order.  Some 
times  the  House  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
common  bar-room,  ar  d  once  the  Speaker  was  obliged 
to  interfere  to  put  an  end  to  smoking  by  the  mem 
bers.  Not  far  from  the  doors  it  was  understood  that 
a  couple  of  whisky  bottles  were  kept  well  filled  by 
some  attendant,  who  had  suddenly  started  this  busi 
ness  on  his  own  responsibility.  The  town  was  ran 
sacked  for  supplies  of  provisions  for  the  restaurant 
below,  and  the  members  incessantly  tried  their  powers 
in  the  manufacture  of  jokes.  One  gentleman  moved 
that  the  President's  Message  be  read.  A  delinquent 
member  being  brought  in  by  the  Serjeant-at-Arms, 
it  was  moved  that  he  be  released  on  payment  of  the 
usual  fees,  whereupon  a  motion  was  made  to  amend 
by  adding  the  following : — "  And,  being  subjugated, 
he  shall  submit  to  suffrage  without  regard  to  race 
or  colour,  and  shall  take  the  test  oath."  Once 
a  number  of  members  began  to  sing,  in  an  under 
tone,  "  Home,  sweet  home,"  and  a  Republican  pro- 


CHAP.  VIIL          DE  TOCQUEVILLE'S  ADMISSIONS.  155 

posed  that  the  Democrats  should  sing  the  following 

fe^sixVl 


verse: —  /_ 

"  And  are  we  wretches  ye 

And  do  we  still  rebel 
'Tis  only  by  amazing  £ 
That  we  are  out  of  hell." 


Another  gentleman  offered  to  read  the  manuscript 
of  a  sermon  by  the  chaplain,  but  this  proposition  was 
hastily  declined.  On  the  following  day  much  time  was 
spent  in  punishing  members  who  had  absented  them 
selves  without  leave,  and  more  than  once  during  the 
same  session  the  contest  was  repeated  on  a  lesser  scale. 

De  Tocqueville,  who  thought  that  a  spirit  of 
national  morality  was  fostered  by  general  equality 
of  rank  and  station,  was  compelled  to  own  that  this 
source  of  virtue  failed  in  political  life.  "  I  know  of 
no  country,"  he  says  in  one  place,  "  in  which  there  is 
so  little  independence  of  mind  and  real  freedom  of 
discussion  as  in  America."  And  again  he  says,  "  Free 
dom  of  opinion  does  not  exist  in  America."  "I 
attribute  the  small  number  of  distinguished  men  in 
political  life  to  the  ever-increasing  despotism  of  the 
majority  in  the  United  States."  7  In  this,  the  most 
open  and  candid  of  all  the  chapters  in  M.  De  Tocque- 
ville's  work,  he  describes  the  result  of  his  observa 
tions  in  America  without  attempting  to  bring  them 
into  unison  with  his  preconceived  opinions.  This 
portion  of  his  treatise  is  rather  a  narrative  than  a 
philosophical  essay.  He  tells  us  what  he  saw,  and 


^  Vol.  i.,  chap,  xv.,  pp.  337  and  340.    (Tome  ii.,  pp.  149  and  153.) 


156  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII. 

how  it  affected  his  mind.  One  of  his  American 
critics  has  remarked,  with  great  force,  that  "his 
practical  observations  are  independent  of  his  abstract 
theories,  and  his  abstract  theories  have  no  connexion 
with  his  practical  observations."  Hence,  in  his  re 
marks  on  the  omnipotence  of  the  majority,  he  contra 
dicts  many  statements  concerning  the  United  States 
which  he  advanced  in  other  portions  of  his  work. 
He  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  intolerance  of 
party  spirit  in  America,  ihe  suppression  of  free 
discussion,  the  erection  of  the  worst  form  of  des 
potism  in  the  midst  of  a  democracy,  and  under  the 
title  of  liberty  ;  and  he  was  compelled  to  acknowledge 
that  the  discovery  shocked  and  alarmed  him.  Had 
he  spoken  yet  more  plainly,  his  observations  woul  1 
have  gained  in  usefulness,  although  his  popularity 
might  have  been  diminished.  The  American  writer 
just  quoted  frankly  says,  "If  his  studies  had  been 
more  protracted,  more  patient,  more  profound, 
and  more  consistent  in  their  results,  his  book  would 
have  given  far  less  satisfaction  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  For  they  would  not  have  borne  from 
him,  nor  from  any  other  man,  without  deep  offence, 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth.  Nor  would  his  work  have  been  hailed  with 
such  universal  applause  by  the  friends  of  democracy 
throughout  the  civilized  world."8  The  ordinary 
American  does  not  give  himself  time  to  hear  both 


8  '  Southern  Review,'  April,  1867.     (Baltimore,  1867.) 


CHAP.  V1IL  THE    TYRANNY    OF    THE    MAJORITY.  157 

sides  of  a  question.  He  is  quite  satisfied  with  hear 
ing  the  side  which  adapts  itself  to  his  prejudices  and 
inclinations.  The  writings  of.  his  public  journals  are 
too  often  mere  partisan  appeals  to  his  passions.  The 
majority  alone  can  make  itself  fully  heard,  for  no 
one  listens  to  the  minority  even  when  it  is  allowed  a 
free  voice.  Burke  maintained  that  this  overbearing 
spirit  was  inseparable  from  a  democracy,9  and  assur 
edly  there  is  nothing  quite  equal  to  it  anywhere 
in  the  world  outside  the  United  States.  Mindful  of 
the  warning  contained  in  the  words  of  the  American 
writer  just  referred  to,  I  borrow  also  from  an  American 
an  account  of  his  country  in  respect  of  this  particular 
abuse  of  liberty : — "  It  might  easily  be  shown  that 
every  page  of  the  history  of  the  United  States  is 
written  all  over  with  the  phrase, — the  tyranny  of  the 
majority.  The  resolutions  and  acts  of  State  Legis 
latures,  the  proceedings  of  local  and  of  general 
Conventions,  and,  above  all,  the  unread  and  silent 
annals  of  Congress,  are  each  and  all  everywhere 
replete  with  the  most  melancholy  proofs  of  the 
tyranny  of  the  majority." 10 


9  "  Of  this  I  am  certain,  that  in  a  democracy  the  majority  of  the 
citizens  is  capable  of  exercising  the  most  cruel  oppressions  upon 
the   minority,  whenever   strong  divisions   prevail   in  that  kind  of 
polity,  as  they  often  must ;  and  that  oppression  of  the  minority  will 
extend  to  far  greater  numbers,  and  will  be  carried  on  with  much 
greater    fury,   than    can    almost    ever    be   apprehended   from    the 
dominion   of  a  single   sceptre.      In    such   a   popular   persecution, 
individual  sufferers  are  in  a  much  more  deplorable  condition  than 
in  any  other." — Burke,  'Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France.' 

10  'Southern  Review/  Vol.  i.  p.  314. 


158  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAI-.  VIII 

Any  writer  might  well  despair  of  conveying  to 
those  who  have  not  examined  closely  and  minutely 
into  the  subject  for  themselves,  an  adequate  concep 
tion  of  the  intolerance  and  the  corruption  which 
prevail  in  the  political  life  of  America.  There  is 
no  point  of  view  from  which  the  observer  sees  the 
character  of  the  people  at  so  great  a  disadvantage  as 
this.  A  relentless  and  implacable  spirit  animates 
political  opponents.  One  faction  pursues  the  other 
with  fierce  and  uncompromising  hatred,  and  adopts 
a  thousand  mean  and  dishonest  expedients  to  destroy 
it.  These  offences  may  not  be  absent  from  party 
tactics  elsewhere,  but  they  are  seen  under  peculiarly 
odious  circumstances  in  America.  The  ordinary 
courtesies  of  life  are  too  frequently  violated  in  the 
Legislature.  For  a  man  to  call  his  opponent  a 
"  traitor,"  and  for  the  other  to  denounce  his  accuser 
as  a  "  liar,"  causes  scarcely  any  discomposure  in  the 
Chamber.11  There  is  an  utter  absence  of  any  high  or 
generous  feeling  as  the  standard  of  public  life.  "  De 
stroy  your  adversary,  blacken  his  character,  injure 
his  name,  do  anything  to  him  but  allow  him  fair 
speech  and  fair  play," — such  is  the  advice  that  a 
leader  of  party  might  appropriately  give  if  he  were 
training  a  set  of  young  politicians  for  the  arena  at 
the  Capitol.  No  matter  which  side  obtains  the 
upper  hand,  a  remorseless  tyranny  is  immediately  set 


11  See  the  '  Congressional  Globe '  for  1866-67,  where  several  cases 
of  this  kind  are  reported.  In  one  instance  a  member  caned  another 
on  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  (July,  1866). 


CHAP.  VIIL         THE    BITTERNESS    OF    PARTY    WARFARE.  159 

in  action.  The  antagonists  sometimes  end  by  de 
stroying  each  other.  The  remnant  of  a  shattered 
force  reappears  after  an  interval  in  altered  dress  and 
under  a  new  name.  The  leaders  watch  the  current 
of  popular  opinion,  and  try  to  swim  with  it,  and 
according  to  their  dexterity,  their  quickness  of  sight, 
and  their  flexibility  of  moral  temperament,  do  they 
lose  or  recover  the  direction  of  affairs.  Meanwhile, 
the  people  think  they  govern,  and  know  that  they 
actually  can  govern  whenever  they  choose  to  stretch 
forth  their  hands.  High-principled  and  honourable 
men  there  of  course  are  in  American  parties,  but 
by  what  colleagues,  what  associates,  are  they  sur 
rounded  !  How  repulsive  are  the  avenues  by  which 
alone  they  can  pass  to  distinction  !  However  in 
corruptible  and  sturdy,  however  unassailable  in  his 
own  principles,  .an  American  politician  may  be,  he 
must  often  feel  discouraged  arid  humiliated  when  he 
looks  round  upon  the  men  with  whom  he  is  obliged 
to  act,  and  makes  himself  acquainted  with  the  con 
ditions  upon  which  their  support  and  fidelity  must  be 
purchased. 

This  vitiation  of  the  'true  theory  of  the  Kepublic 
by  the  struggles  of  parties  was  not  unforeseen  in  the 
first  days  of  its  trial.  Madison  was  obliged  to  make 
the  confession  that  "complaints  are  everywhere 
heard  from  our  most  considerate  and  virtuous  citi 
zens  ....  that  the  public  good  is  disregarded  in 
the  conflicts  of  rival  parties ;  and  that  measures 
are  too  often  decided,  not  according  to  the  rules  of 


160  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII 

justice,  and  the  rights  of  the  minor  party,  but  by 
the  supreme  force  of  an  interested  and  overbearing 
majority." 12  This  eminent  man  believed  that  the 
remedy  would  be  found  in  the  extended  area  of  the 
country,  and  the  wide  range  over  which  party  con 
flicts  would  have  to  be  fought.  By  what  process  of 
reasoning  he  arrived  at  this  conclusion  it  is  hard  to 
conjecture.  The  diffusion  of  parties  is  a  cause  of 
strength  instead  of  weakness.  The  wider  they  are 
distributed,  the  more  powerful  they  become,  and 
nothing  can  be  easier  than  to  concentrate  their 
energies  upon  particular  localities  when  the  occa 
sion  requires.  It  is  no  disadvantage  to  a  general 
to  have  abundant  reserves  always  at  his  command. 
The  stringency  of  party  discipline  in  America  pre 
vents  a  wide  dispersion  of  partisans  from  being  a 
source  of  embarrassment.  In  every  State,  in  every 
county,  in  every  town,  there  is  a  rallying-point  for 
the  adherents  of  each  side.  The  press  is  active  and 
well  supported,  the  emoluments  at  the  disposal  of 
the  party  in  power  flow  safely  into  distant  channels, 
and  the  man  who  does  his  work  knows  that  he  is 
sure  of  his  pay.  He  is  not  so  far  removed  from  the 
centre  of  government  that  it  is  safe  for  his  leaders 
to  treat  him  with  neglect  or  ingratitude.  Party  was 
not  destined  to  go  through  a  purification  by  the 
means  which  Madison  suggested.  Only  by  the  intro 
duction  into  political  life  of  men  of  a  higher  class 


>2  •  Federalist,1  No.  10. 


CHAP.  viii.  HAMILTON'S  DELUSIONS.  161 

than  the  average  of  those  who  now  take  part  in  -it 
was  that  result  attainable.  But,  as  it  has  been 
shown,  the  popular  prejudice  against  the  higher 
class  is  becoming  deeper  and  stronger.  Men  who 
are  capable  of  elevating  the  political  life  of  the 
country  are  deterred  from  approaching  it  by  the 
spiteful  and  malicious  horde  of  demagogues  who 
surround  it  and  claim  it  as  their  own.  Once  in  the 
Senate,  a  man  may  serve  his  country  with  fearlessness 
and  honour.  But  the  road  to  the  Senate,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  too  often  paved  with  gold,  and  the  gold  has 
to  come  from  the  pocket  of  the  candidate. 

But,  whatever  detriment  faction  might  work  in 
other  departments  of  the  Government,  it  could  never 
affect  the  choice  of  the  Executive.  That  office  must 
always  remain  unsullied  and  beyond  reproach.  So 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  dreamed,  with  a 
delusive  hope  in  their  own  work.  The  "process  of 
election  affords  a  moral  certainty,  that  the  office  of 
President  will  seldom  fall  to  tho  lot  of  any  man 
who  is  not  in  an  eminent  degree  endowed  with  the 
requisite  qualifications.  Talents  for  low  intrigue,  and 
the  little  arts  of  popularity,  may  alone  suffice  to 
elevate  a  man  to  the  first  honours  of  a  single  State ; 
but  it  will  require  other  talents,  and  a  different  kind 
of  merit,  to  establish  him  in  the  esteem  and  con 
fidence  of  the  whole  Union."  13  In  this  supposition 
Hamilton  was  as  deplorably  deceived  as  Madison  had 


Federalist,'  No.  68. 


162  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  ViJi. 

been  in.  his  imagined  remedy  for  party  delinquencies. 
The  Executive  is  not  chosen  by  the  "  whole  Union." 
He  is  picked  up  by  a  party  from  no  one  knows  where, 
and  tossed  into  his  position  no  one  knows  why. 
Months  before  the  day  of  nominal  election,  each 
faction  looks  out  carefully  for  a  candidate.  The 
first  requisite  is  that  he  shall  be  comparatively  ob 
scure  ;  the  second  that  he  shall  be  of  a  plastic 
disposition.  When  found,  he  is  kept  in  dark  places 
until  the  time  is  ripe  for  his  adoption  and  public 
appearance.  He  is  not  allowed  to  open  his  lips  until 
the  signal  is  given  by  his  managers.  A  large  staff 
of  agents  is  scattered  over  the  country  to  advocate 
his  claims,  and  disparage  those  of  the  opposition  can 
didate.14  The  people  cannot  bring  forward  a  candi 
date  of  their  own.  Neither  can  a  man  offer  himself 
as  President  without  receiving  a  party  nomination, 
and  the  strongest  party  of  the  hour,  not  that  which 
produces  the  ablest  man,  gains  the  day.  It  is  a 
matter  of  chance  what  kind  of  man  is  placed  in  the 
position  of  chief  magistrate.  An  American  writer 
truly  remarks,  "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  accident,  and 
the  apparatus  which  turned  up  his  name  had  be 
fore  given  us  Polk,  Pierce,  and  Buchanan.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  not  really  chosen  by  the  people,  not 


14  Mr.  Fisher  says, — "  An  immense  force,  numbering  hundreds  ot 
thousands,  composed  of  office-holders  and  office-seekers,  organized, 
disciplined,  and  trained  for  the  work,  is  enlisted  for  the  express  pur 
pose  of  carrying  the  election  of  a  President." — (Fisher's  '  Trial  of  the 
Constitution,'  p.  262.) 


CHAP.  VIIL  PRESIDENT    LINCOLN'S   TACT.  163 

even  by  those  who  voted  for  him."15      The   party 
convention  is  the  actual  elective  machine. 

The  President  thus  chosen  never  regains  his  in 
dependence.  He  remains  the  mere  puppet  of  the 
men  who  placed  him  in  authority,  or,  if  he  venture 
to  exercise  a  will  and  an  opinion  of  his  own,  his 
lot  is  soon  made  an  unenviable  one.  "  It  is  cer 
tainly  desirable,"  said  Hamilton,  "  that  the  Execu 
tive  should  be  in  a  situation  to  dare  to  act  on  his 
own  opinion  with  vigour  and  decision."  That  theory 
has  not  come  down  to  more  recent  times.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  was  a  man  of  principle,  but  he  was  also 
the  most  docile  instrument  of  party  that  ever  lay 
ready  to  the  hand  of  aspiring  politicians.  In  no 
single  instance,  till  near  the  end  of  his  days,  did  he 
ever  run  counter  to  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  the 
Republican  leaders.  Repeatedly  he  gave  way  to  the 
solicitations  or  peremptory  demands  of  his  friends 
against  his  own  judgment.  He  refused  for  months 
to  issue  an  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and  at  last, 
when  he  consented,  he  spoke  privately  of  it  with  a 
sneer.  It  would  be  of  no  more  avail,  he  said,  than  the 
Pope's  Bull  against  the  comet.10  When  he  announced 
the  establishment  of  the  blockade,  a  leading  Radical 
called  upon  him  and  told  him  the  act  was  a  great 
mistake.  "  Ah,  that,"  said  the  President  with  a  laugh, 
"  is  Se ward's  work.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  it." 
"  But,"  returned  his  visitor,  "  you  are  a  lawyer  your- 

u  Fisher's  '  Trial  of  the  Constitution/  p.  265. 

16  See  '  Life  of  Lincoln,'  by  Hon.  H.  J.  Raymond. 

M  2 


164  PARTY  GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII, 

self — you  know  this  cannot  stand."  "  No,  I  am  no 
lawyer,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln ;  "  I  have  conducted  a 
few  cases  about  cattle  straying  or  injured  fences,  but 
I  don't  know  much  about  it."  And  he  told  one  of 
his  quaint  stories,  and  there  the  matter  ended.17  He 
did  what  he  was  told.  A  man  who  would  be  called 
a  "good  President"  must  be  content  to  follow  his 
example,  provided  he  is  on  the  side  of  the  strong. 
If  he  is  on  the  side  of  the  weak  he  had  better  go 
over  to  the  strong.  Mr.  Lincoln  began  to  exercise 
an  opinion  of  his  own  just  after  the  war,  with  re 
gard  to  the^  reconstruction  of  the  insurrectionary 
States.  A  portion  of  his  own  party  immediately 
turned  round  upon  him  and  attacked  him  with  the 
ferocity  characteristic  of  disappointed  politicians,  and 
had  he  lived  longer,  and  persevered  in  liis  policy, 
he  might  have  found  himself  covered  with  the  odium 
which  fell  upon  his  successor.  The  President,  under 
the  present  system,  is  the  nominee  of  a  party,  and 
the  creature  of  that  party  during  the  days  of  his 
power.  If  he  attempts  to  break  away  from  it  he 
ruins  himself,  and  the  agencies  which  created  him  are 
immediately  set  in  action  to  overthrow  him. 

No  less  is  it  party  which    regulates   the  legisla 
tive  department  of  the  government.18     The  members 


17  This  incident  was  related  to  me  by  a  Republican  Senator,  who 
had  been  a  close  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln's. 

18  This  is  a  topic  which  has  been  discussed  in  previous  pages, 
and  it  is  here  reverted  to  for  the  sake  of  completing  the  general 
view  of  party  government,  and  of  adducing  additional  proofs  of  the 
statements  in  the  text. 


CHAP.  VIII.          INTOLERANCE   OF    FREE   DISCUSSION.  165 

chosen  arc  commonly  the  mouthpieces  of  a  faction,  or 
the  compliant  tools  of  corrupt  placemen.  It  would 
be  strange  if  there  were  no  upright  men  in  Con 
gress,  but  no  one  knows  better  than  such  men  how 
weak  they  are,  how  little  regarded,  how  hopelessly  in 
the  minority.19  They  must  become  the  vassals  of 
their  leaders,  or  sacrifice  their  seats.  While  they  can 
conscientiously  obey  this  dictation  there  is  no  impro 
priety  committed,  but  some  measure  is  sure  to  be 
brought  forward  of  which  they  disapprove,  and  then 
their  convictions  are  abandoned.  There  is  no  help 
for  them.  They  want,  for  various  reasons,  to  be  in 


19  Mr.  Fisher  says, — "  In  America  the  Senate  represents  the 
States  as  such,  the  House  the  people,  the  President  the  people  ;  but 
really  and  practically  they  all  represent  a  party,  because  elected  by 
a  party.  .  .  .  Neither  of  them  is  elevated  above  the  reach  of  party 
influence — that  is  to  say,  of  capricious,  passionate,  often  ignorant 
and  reckless,  popular  influence.  Neither  of  them  expresses  the 
idea  of  nationality,  of  endurance.  Neither  of  them  can  be  a  secure 
shelter  for  a  minority,  for  a  defeated  and  oppressed  party,  or  a 
menaced  or  oppressed  class." — '  Trial  of  the  Constitution,'  p.  72. 
See  also  the  following : — "  Judging  the  system  of  representation 
now  in  operation  by  its  fruits,  and  what  have  we  ? — a  system  that 
has  succeeded  in  placing  men  into  power  whose  intellectual  and 
moral  status  is  so  low,  that  their  success  would  be  impossible  in  any 
thing  but  the  now  muddy  stream  of  politics.  Under  our  present 
system  of  majority  representation,  the  necessity  of  unification  and 
consolidation  of  party,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  the  dominant 
power,  is  so  urgent,  as  non-success  means  non-representation,  that 
party  discipline  becomes  almost  as  rigorous  as  that  of  an  army ; 
and  all  men  of  independence  of  thought,  who,  agreeing  with  a  strong 
minority  of  a  majority  upon  some  of  the  party  measures,  while  dis 
agreeing  as  to  others,  are  either  compelled  to  at-cept  the  party  yoke, 
however  uncomfortably  it  may  fit,  and  sink  their  individual  opinions, 
or  abstain  from  taking  part  in  polities." — (From  a  'Report  of  the, 
Personal  Representation  Society  of  Xew  York  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  ]  867.') 


166  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIIL 

Congress,  and  they  can  only  be  there  by  practising 
obedience  to  their  chiefs.  The  forms  of  Congress,  it 
has  been  already  explained,  give  the  utmost  licence 
to  extreme  partisans,  and  allow  no  freedom  to  men 
of  moderate  opinions.  In  the  election  of  Speaker  by 
a  general  vote,  the  most  numerous  faction  take  care 
that  one  of  their  own  number  shall  be  appointed.  This 
officer  then  appoints  the  Committees  which  have  the 
first  control  of  every  department  of  business — finance, 
the  tariff,  taxation,  foreign  affairs — and  he  places  upon 
them  a  clear  majority  of  his  own  side.  The  Com 
mittees  sit  throughout  the  Session,  and  no  subject 
which  comes  within  their  province  can  be  brought 
before  the  House  without  their  consent.  Thus,  in 
1865-7  no  member  of  the  minority  could  bring  for 
ward  a  proposal  for  the  restoration  of  the  Southern 
States,  because  by  the  standing  orders  it  would  at 
once  have  been  referred  to  the  Eeconstruction  Com 
mittee,  and  there  buried  out  of  sight.  To  render 
the  party  discipline  more  certain  in  its  operation,  a 
"  caucus  "  is  held  at  the  beginning  of  each  Session. 
At- this  a  process  akin  to  swearing  in  the  members  is 
gone  through.  Each  person  makes  an  unexpressed, 
but  well-understood,  vow  to  be  true  and  faithful  to 
his  party.  The  caucus  was  originally  little  more 
important  than  the  preliminary  meeting  of  Conser 
vatives  or  Liberals  which  is  held  at  the  opening  of 
the  English  Session  at  the  houses  of  their  respective 
leaders.  It  is  now  a  distinct  and  important  part  of 
the  governing  power  of  the  country.  The  whole 


CHAP  VI1L  THE    CAUCUS    USED    AS    A   GAG.  167 

business  of  the  land,  at  the  opening  of  a  Session,  is 
practically  at  the  disposal  of  a  caucus.  The  delibera 
tions  of  the  body  are  conducted  with  closed  doors, 
and  the  conclusions  which  have  been  arrived  at  are 
alone  made  known  to  the  public  papers,  and  often 
even  that  dole  of  information  is  withheld.  The 
caucus  cannot  indeed  make  laws ;  but  when  it  has  de 
cided  upon  a  particular  course,  it  has  the  power  to 
carry  it  out,  and  the  people  do  not  learn  the  motives 
which  led  to  its  adoption.  For  the  sake  of  avoiding 
strife  and  divisions  in  the  party,  all  the  members  of 
it  usually  attend  the  caucus,  and  the  weaker  section 
avoids,  if  possible,  a  collision  with  the  stronger.  This 
is  another  evil  of  the  practice  of  secret  discussion,  for 
if  it  were  carried  on  in  the  face  of  day,  the  minority 
might  often  obtain  such  encouragement  and  support 
from  without  as  would  enable  it  to  make  a  success 
ful  struggle  for  its  principles.  But  the  dread  of  the 
reproach  of  causing  schism  and  disorganization,  and 
the  well-known  penalties  of  offending  the  leaders, 
constantly  induce  even  able  men  to  agree  to  resolu 
tions  of  which  they  do  not  approve,  in  the  hope 
that  when  they  come  before  the  House  an  oppor 
tunity  will  arise,  or  some  accident  occur,  to  defeat 
them.20  But  as  a  rule  no  such  chance  presents 
itself.  The  member  finds  that  he  has  pledged  him 
self  to  the  views  of  his  leaders  en  masse,  and  no  dis 
cretionary  right  of  action  is  afterwards  permitted. 

20  See  '  The  Times '  (American  correspondence)  of  December  29th, 
1865,  and  March  25th,  1867. 


168  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIII. 

He  has  accepted  sealed  orders.  A  dominant  party 
is  not  to  be  assailed  lightly  or  heedlessly.  It  has 
ample  means  with  which  to  harass  and  destroy  the 
recusant.  No  wonder,  then,  that  this  unseen  and 
potent  tyranny  infuses  a  spirit  of  time-serving  and 
cowardice  even  into  men  who  enter  upon  their  career 
firm  in  their  good  intentions,  and  impregnable,  as 
they  suppose,  in  their  conscientious  principles.  They 
think  at  first  that  earnestness  of  conviction,  and  reso 
lute  adherence  to  that  conviction,  will  save  them 
from  defeat.  They  soon  discover  that  the  virtues  by 
which  they  set  so  great  a  store  are  ridiculous  in  the 
eyes  of  their  party,  that  they  are  denounced  as  vi 
sionaries  or  impostors,  that  they  are  impotent  against 
the  compact  phalanx  arrayed  before  them,  and  that, 
so  far  as  their  own  interests  are  concerned,  they  had 
done  better  to  have  entered  the  Legislature  without 
an  opinion  to  call  their  own.  They  go  back  to  their 
former  occupations  with  a  character  impaired  by 
the  ceaseless  assaults  and  calumnies  of  their  former 
associates,  with  old  friendships  sundered,  old  ties 
broken,  with  discouragement  in  every  circumstance 
which  surrounds  them.  The  member  of  Congress 
who  aims  at  being  successful,  before  other  consider 
ations,  must  resolve  at  the  outset  to  close  his  eyes 
and  ears  to  all  save  those  who  marshal  and  lead  the 
columns  of  his  party.21 

31  The  following  is  from  a  Republican  paper,  the  '  New  York 
Evening  Post,'  of  16th  February,  1867  : — "  The  violent  and  extreme 
Republicans  in  both  Houses  exercise  an  influence  disproportioned 
to  their  numbers,  by  reason  of  their  virulence  and  intolerance. 


CHAP.  VIIL          POLITICAL   OSTRACISM   OP   ABLE   MEN.  169 

A  system  of  government  which  has  a  tendency  to 
repel  men  of  high  character  and  position,  and  attract 
the  needy  and  unscrupulous,  will  necessarily  be  full 
of  corruptfon.  The  standard  of  integrity  and  honour 
will  be  low.22  And  this  is  what  we  find  in  the 
United  States.  Posts  in  the  civil  service  are  so 
many  bribes  used  to  win  over  men  whose  opposition 
might  prove  dangerous.  There  is  a  general  scramble 
for  the  emoluments  of  office.  But  this  is  not  the 


They  denounce  as  copperhead  every  Republican  who  offers  to 
differ  from  them,  and  exercise  really  a  system  of  terrorism  which- 
has  broken  down  the  independent  judgment  of  very  many,  and 
makes  some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  House  and  Senate  so  anxious 
to  avoid  their  proscription  that  they  are  silent,  or  acquiescent  in 
measures  which  their  judgment  condemns." 

In  the  Senate,  on  the  llth  July,  1867,  Senator  Buckalew  made 
the  following  remarks  : — "  If  a  member  of  this  body  gets  re-elected, 
his  friends  think  it  is  a  subject  for  warm  congratulation,  regard 
it  as  a  wonderful  result  to  be  wrung  from  a  caucus  and  from 
managers  at  home.  But,  sir,  I  insist  that  in  this  country,  as  abroad, 
the  House  of  Representatives  ought  to  be  the  great  House  of  our 
Legislature ;  its  hall  should  be  resorted  to  for  words  of  eloquence, 
for  profound  logic,  and  for  the  exhibition  of  the  highest  traits  of 
American  statesmanship.  How  is  it.  and  how  must  it  be,  as  long 
as  you  keep  members  there  two,  four,  and  six  years  only?  They 
have  no  opportunity  to  grow  up  into  distinction;  they  have  no 
opportunity  to  mature  their  abilities  and  become  able  statesmen." — 
('Congressional  Globe,'  12th  July,  1867.) 

*-  Burke,  in  his  '  French  Revolution,'  utters  certain  truths  which 
seem  to  have  disappeared  altogether  from  modern  political  discus 
sions,  or  at  best  are  openly  disavowed  and  repudiated.  "Every 
thing,'  he  says,  "ought  to  be  open,  but  not  indifferently,  to  every 
man."  "I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  road  to  eminence  and 
power,  from  obscure  condition,  ought  not  to  be  made  too  easy,  nor  a 
thing  too  much  of  course.  If  rare  merit  be  the  rarest  of  all  rare 
things,  it  ought  to  pass  through  some  sort  of  probation.  The  temple 
of  honour  ought  to  be  seated  on  an  eminence.  If  it  be  opened 
through  virtue,  let  it  be  remembered,  too,  that  virtue  is  never  tried 
wit  by  some  difficulty  and  some  struggle." 


170  PARTY   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIU 

only,  or  the  worst,  form  of  corruption  which  exists. 
Lord  Brougham  bears  this  testimony  to  the  honour 
of  the  House  of  Commons: — " I  have  sat  in  Parlia 
ment  for  above  fifty  years,  and  I  never  even  have 
heard  a  surmise  against  the  purity  of  tjie  members, 
except  in  some  few  cases  of  private  Bills  promoted 
by  Joint  Stock  Companies.  I  had  been  considerably 
upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  Parliament 
before  I  ever  heard  such  a  thing  even  whispered ; 
and  I  am  as  certain  as  I  am  of  my  own  existence, 
that,  during  the  whole  of  that  period,  not  one  act  of 
a  corrupt  nature  had  ever  been  done  by  any  one 
member  of  either  House."  a 

The  incredulity  of  a  high  American  official  when 
this  passage  was  once  shown  to  him  revealed  the 
difference  in  the  tone  of  honour  which  prevails  in 
English  and  in  American  public  life.  Corruption  is 
the  first  thing  to  which  an  American  politician  of 
the  common  order  becomes  accustomed.  He  beholds 
it  practised  everywhere.  It  has  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  himself,  and  he  is  driven  to  the  use  of  it 
in  his  dealings  with  others.  The  member  of  Con 
gress  is  surrounded  with  persons  who  are  being 
bought  and  sold  from  morning  till  night.  Before  he 
begins  the  business  of  the  day,  his  rooms  are  besieged 
by  an  eager  crowd  of  office-seekers,  whose  claims,  in 
the  larger  proportion  of  cases,  he  knows  to  be  worth 
less  ;  but  he  is  bound  to  advance  them.  When  he 
goes  down  to  the  House  he  finds  himself  beset  by  a 

33  Lord  Brougham  on  the  'British  Constitution,'  p.  62,  chapter  IT. 


.  VIIL  CORRUPTION    OF    THE   LEGISLATORS.  171 


throng  of  "lobbyists,"  who  haunt  the  doors  of  the 
chamber,  and  often  contrive  to  follow  him  upon  the 
floor.  Any  great  interest  which  is  affected  by  a  Bill 
before  the  House  has  active  agents  at  work  to  make 
it  worth  the  while  of  members,  such  members,  that 
is,  as  are  accessible  to  gold,  to  hear  and  see  no  more 
than  they  are  paid  to  do.  If  a  member  is  ascertained 
to  have  been  engaged  in  a  nefarious  transaction,  it 
does  not  injure  him  in  the  estimation  of  his  associates, 
of  his  constituency,  or  of  the  country.  This  is  the 
worst  indication  of  all  of  the  extent  to  which  public 
life  has  been  degraded.  One  instance,  among  many, 
may  be  given  in  proof  of  a  statement  which  seems  to 
affect  the  national  idea  of  probity,  although  in  reality 
it  reaches  no  further  than  the  political  idea.  In 
1862  a  local  newspaper  in  a  Western  State  brought 
forward  accusations  seriously  affecting  the  reputation 
of  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
charge  was  renewed  so  often  that  at  last  a  Committee 
of  the  House  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  it.  They 
found  that  the  implicated  member  was  the  Chairman 
of  a  Committee  to  which  the  regulation  and  disposal 
of  lands  in  Territories  were  intrusted,  that  he  had 
appointed  his  relatives  and  friends  to  posts  in  all 
directions,  and  that  he  had  made  a  bargain-  with 
an  agent  to  buy  lands,  upon  information  afforded 
by  the  member  in  question,  obtained  in  his  official 
capacity,  and  to  divide  the  profits  between  them.  The 
facts  were  proved  chiefly  by  the  letters  of  the  accused. 
Once  he  had  written  to  his  underling,  "  I  want  to 


172  PARTY   GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VUL 

unite  with  you  as  a  full  partner  in  land  speculations 
and  town  sites."  And  again  he  wrote,  by  his  own 
admission,  "  I  want  to  have  an  interest  with  you  in 
the  city  and  town  lot  speculation.  The  Pacific  rail 
road  will  go  through  this  Territory,  and  it  will  be  a 
fortune  to  us  if  I  can  get  it."  "  I  will  know  all  the 
proposed  expenditures  in  the  Territories  and  post  you 
in  advance"  "  I  have  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  and 
some  money  to  get  this  place."  The  other  party  to 
this  bargain  wrote  back  saying, — "In  the  matter  of 
the  appointments  you  may  have  them  your  own  way ; 
all  of  them  you  can  save  for  yourself,  and  over  and 
above  these  the  partnership  matter  in  land  specula 
tions."  The  facts  brought  out  in  the  evidence  laid 
open  the  corrupt  intentions  of  the  accused  with  a 
conclusiveness  which  would  have  been  fatal  to  him 
in  other  countries.  But  there  was  no  proof  that  any 
of  the  transactions  agreed  upon  had  really  been  con 
cluded,  and  the  member  was  exonerated,  and  suffered 
to  retain  his  official  position.24 

In  the  early  part  of  1867  the  Secretary  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  who  was  the  publisher  of  a 
public  journal,  was  accused  of  threatening  his  party 
with  desertion  unless  a  very  lucrative  trade  contract 
was  made  with  him.  He  did  not  deny  the  charge, 
but  on  the  contrary  defended  it  upon  principle  with 
great  candour.  The  theory  that  men  should  be  paid 
for  their  political  support  was,  he  said,  "  one  that  no 

™  For  the  particulars  of  this  case,  see  '  Reports  of  Committees  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,'  1862-63.  fNVaehington,  18630 


QIAP.  VIII.  ADMISSIONS   OF   POLITICIANS.  173 

party  could  discard  and  live."  "Nothing  has  con 
tributed  more  to  the  tremendous  and  increasing 
strength  of  the  Republican  party  than  the  adherence 

of  such   men   as   Governor to   the   maxim   of 

taking  care  of  their  friends."25  There  is  no  attempt 
at  secrecy  or  disguise  about  this.  It  is  not  dishonour 
able  for  a  public  official  to  own  that  if  he  upholds  his 
party  he  expects  to  be  properly  paid  for  the  effort. 
And  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the  practice  is  not 
peculiar  to  any  side  or  faction ;  it  is  the  one  prece 
dent  which  all  parties  defend  with  perfect  unanimity. 
When  the  Tariff  Bill  was  before  Congress  in  1867,  and 
duties  on  certain  articles  were  enormously  increased, 
statements  were  openly  made  in  the  public  papers  that 
interested  manufacturers  had  been  busy  with  their 
gold  among  the  members.  Whether  they  were  well 
founded  or  not  the  mere  observer  could  not  decide. 
They  were  urged  by  American  journals  against  Ame 
rican  politicians,  and  they  were  never  contradicted. 
It  is  incontestable  that  the  duties  most  largely 
enhanced  were  those  upon  manufactures,  the  special 
representatives  of  which  had  seats  in  Congress. 
Public  writers  in  America  seldom  deny  that  corrup 
tion  on  the  most  extensive  scale  exists  in  the  Legis 
lature,  unless,  perhaps,  when  the  fact  is  affirmed  by  a 
foreigner.  The  addition  of  Texas  to  the  Union  was 
notoriously  secured  by  the  judicious  outlay  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars  among  members  of  Congress  and 


'  Washington  Morning  Chronicle,'  February  Hth,  1867. 


174  PARTY    GOVERNMENT.  CHAP.  VIll. 

their  friends.  Mr.  Horace  Greeley,  no  prejudiced 
witness  against  his  country,  says  of  this  great  feast — 
"Corruption,  thinly  disguised,  haunted  the  purlieus 
and  stalked  through  the  halls  of  the  Capitol;  and 
numbers,  hitherto  in  needy  circumstances,  suddenly 
found  themselves  rich."  He  adds,  indeed,  that  "  this 
was  probably  the  first  instance  in  which  measures  of 
vital  consequence  to  the  country  were  carried  or  de 
feated  in  Congress  under  the  direct  spur  of  pecuniary 
interest ;  "26  but  the  very  qualification  of  the  sentence 
is  suggestive.  The  negotiation  is  rarely  on  so  colossal 
a  scale,  but  smaller  transactions  of  precisely  the  same 
character  are,  in  the  jargon  of  Congress,  constantly 
"  being  put  through."27 


26  '  The  American  Conflict,'  pp.  208-9.     See  also  on  pp.  209-10 
an  honest  explanation  of  log-rolling,  ''whereby,"  says  Mr.  Greeley, 
"our  statute-books  are  loaded  with  acts  which  subserve  no  end 
but  to  fill  the  pockets  of  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  rights  or 
the  interests  of  the  many."     There  are  no  remarks  in  the  text  so 
full  of  condemnation  as  many  which  might  be  cited  from  American 
writers. 

27  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  New  York  'Nation,'  a 
Radical  paper,  writing  of  the  Radical  Legislators  for  the  State  of 
New  York: — "A  class  of  bribing  agents  has  sprung  up — that  is, 
lobby  agents  who  have  laid  aside  all  pretence —  to  whom  the  money 
is  confided  for  distribution,  and  who  do  the  work  as  effectually  as  any 
other  brokers.     Nor  is  the  business  confined  to  the  corrupt  passage  of 
bills.    The  latest  device  for  raising  the  wind  is  the  introduction  of  bills 
of  peculiarly  outrageous  character,  which,  if  enacted,  are  sure  to  ruin 
a  number  of  persons.     It  is  not  intended,  however,  that  they  should 
be  enacted.     They  are  merely  decoy  ducks.     They  bring  the  birds 
to  the  fowler's  net.    Numbers  of  frightened  people  rush  up  to  Albany, 
see  the  legislators,  are  thoroughly  plucked,  and  sent  home  somewhat 
lighter  in  pocket,  but  also  relieved  in  mind.     The  main  body  of  the 
corrupt  drove  are  lawyers,  farmers,  and  what,  not  from  the  interior 


CHAT.  VIII.       GENERAL   EFFECT    OF    PARTY   MISRULE.  175 

The  effect  of  this  party  rule  is,  then,  to  prevent 
free  and  fair  debate,  to  destroy  independence  of 
opinion,  and  to  introduce  into  political  life  men  who 
think  it  no  dishonour  to  use  their  opportunities  to 
enrich  themselves  and  their  friends.  The  system  in 
its  full  and  complete  working  could  not  possibly 
produce  different  consequences.  There  are,  it  must 
again  be  repeated,  many  members  of  Congress  who 
are  far  above  the  reach  of  these  discreditable  in 
fluences.  But  what  we  have  to  ascertain  is  the 
average  kind  of  politician  which  the  American  system 
brings  into  existence.  That  average  is  unquestion 
ably  low.  The  salary  of  a  member  of  Congress  is 
often  the  least  of  the  pecuniary  inducements  which 
the  position  holds  out  to  him.28  The  sentiment  of 
the  educated  classes  is  essentially  opposed  to  all  that 
is  here  described,  but  the  management  of  public 


of  the  State,  Republicans  in  politics,  and  sound  enough  on  all  the 
groat  issues  of  the  day  tu  please  Thaddeus  Stevens  himself." — 
'  Nation,'  April  llth,  1867. 

Another  extract  from  a  Radical  paper,  the  'New  York  Evening 
'Post,'  is  equally  candid : — "  In  a  large  proportion  of  the  districts  it 
is  expected  by  the  party  managers  that  the  men  elected  to  either 
House  will  have  the  opportunity  to  reimburse  themselves  for  their 
expenses,  and  candidates  are  levied  upon  accordingly  by  the  party 
committees,  the  "  strikers "  and  others.  The  profession  of  honour 
able  motives  is  laughed  at.  It  is  expected  by  the  party  managers 
that  their  creatures  will  be  venal  and  corrupt,  and  we  have  come 
to  that  pass,  by  reason  of  the  enormous  mass  of  special  legislation, 
and  the  small  numbers  of  the  legislature,  that  bribery  is  the  rule  and 
common  practice." 

28  The  pay  was  formerly  3000  dollars  a-year,  with  mileage  fees; 
the  privilege  of  franking,  &c.  In  18C6  it  was,  by  a  vote  of  the  mem 
bers  themselves,  raised  to  5000  dollars  a-year. 


176  PABTY   GOVERNMENT.  CHAI-.  V11I. 

affairs  cannot,  but  in  rare  cases,  fall  into  their  hands. 
Energetic  local  busybodies  step  in  and  lead,  because 
honest  men  dare  not  engage  in  the  struggle.  If 
every  election  fairly  represented  the  sense  of  the  in 
dustrious  and  reputable  portion  of  the  community, 
a  great  change  would  soon  pass  over  political  life. 
But  it  is  the  complaint  of  Americans  themselves  that 
this  enviable  end  is  rarely  attained.29  There  is  no 
people  who  have  a  higher  and  purer  ideal  than  the 
Americans ;  there  are  none  afflicted  with  public 
servants  who  so  systematically  distort  and  debase 
it.  The  first  thing  upon  which  they  prided  them 
selves,  and  the  last  with  which  they  should  have 
parted,  is  freedom  of  discussion.  In  reality,  they 
are  in  the  habit  of  encouraging  what  Mr.  Grote 
calls  the  "  natural  tendency  of  all  ruling  force, 
whether  in  few  or  in  many  hands,  to  perpetuate 
their  own  dogmas  by  proscribing  or  silencing  all 
heretics  and  questioners."3  These  words  might 
serve  as  the  description  of  what  takes  place  in 
America,  whenever  the  minority  attempt  a  protest 
against  the  measures  of  the  ruling  party. 

29  Mr.  Fisher,  in  his  work  on  the  'Trial  of  the  Constitution,' 
observes, — "  The  government  is  below  the  mental  and  moral  level, 
even  of  the  masses.  Go  among  them.  Talk  to  the  farmer  in  his 
field,  the  blacksmith  at  his  anvil,  the  carpenter  at  his  bench — even 
the  American  labouring  man  who  works  for  hire,  in  the  Northern 
States-  and  compare  their  conversation,  so  full  of  good  sense  and 
sound  feeling,  with  the  ignorance,  vulgarity,  personality,  and  narrow 
partizan  spirit  of  an  ordinary  Congressional  debate,  and  with  the 
disclosures  made  by  investigating  committees.  Evidently  the  mind 
and  moral  sentiment  of  the  people  ore  not  represented."— (p.  3i7.) 

80  Plato,  vol.  ii.  p.  144. 


THE   VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN   RELIGION.  177 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THE    VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE    IN   RELIGION. 

THE  support  of  religion  is  entirely  voluntary  in  the 
United  States.  Every  sect  depends  upon  its  own 
members  for  the  maintenance  of  its  places  of  meeting 
and  of  its  pastors.  Eeligion  is  self-governing  and 
self-supporting,  and  there  is  no  denomination  which 
receives  assistance  from  the  government,  or  is  even 
recognised  by  it.  The  principle  is  adopted  that  the 
secular  government  deals  with  political  ends  and 
aims ;  the  church  with  doctrinal.  The  functions  of 
the  two  are  kept  entirely  apart.  The  utmost  licence 
and  freedom  are  allowed  to  professors  of  religion,  no 
matter  how  extraordinary  are  the  tenets  they  advo 
cate.  The  State  leaves  the  Churches  to  shift  for 
themselves,  and  the  head  of  the  State  may  go  to  what 
church  he  please,  or  to  none  at  all,  without  exciting 
any  remark.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  often  seen  inside 
a  place  of  worship,  and  his  successor  pays  even 
less  attention  to  public  religious  observances.  The 
nation  feels  no  interest  in  the  matter.  They  would 
no  more  think  of  dictating  what  sect  their  President 
should  belong  to,  than  they  would  of  ordering  the 
cut  of  his  coat,  or  prescribing  the  number  of  dishes 

N 


178  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN    RELIGION.        CHAP.  IX. 

which  should  be  placed  upon  his  table.  A  man  may 
be  as  religious  or  as  irreligious  as  suits  his  own  ideas, 
without  subjecting  himself  to  the  least  comment  or 
inconvenience. 

This  freedom  from  all  restraint  may  be  ascribed 
partly  to  the  effect  of  a  reaction  from  the  extreme 
stringency  practised  in  past  times.  The  history  of 
ecclesiastical  establishments  in  America  proves  how 
slowly  and  gradually  the  people  became  attached  to 
the  two  great  principles  of  independence  and  tolera 
tion.  The  early  settlor*  brought  out  with  them  the 
persecuting  spirit  from  which  they  had  themselves 
suffered  so  severely.  They  depended  upon  carnal 
weapons  for  the  extension  of  the  spiritual  kingdom. 
The  prison,  the  pillory,  and  the  hangman,  were  the 
teachers  whose  salutary  lessons  they  valued  scarcely 
less  than  the  precepts  of  their  appointed  ministers. 
Every  community  held  that  it  was  the  sacred  duty 
of  the  government  to  make  the  profession  of  religion 
compulsory,  and  to  visit  with  the  heaviest  punish 
ment  the  indifferent  or  the  backsliding.  The  colo 
nists  had  been  trained  to  believe  that  the  assistance 
of  the  State  was  indispensable  to  the  support  of  the 
Church,  and  therefore  they  insisted  upon  the  imposi 
tion  of  special  rates  and  taxes  for  that  purpose.  The 
voluntary  principle  was  as  yet  a  thing  undreamt  of. 
Even  had  it  been  proposed  it  could  not  have  been 
carried  out.  The  country  was  not  settled,  and  the 
population  was  thin  and  scattered.  The  preachers 
must  often  have  gone  without  bread  if  they  had  been 


CHAP.  IX.  STATE    SUPPORT    OF    THE   OHUEOH.  179 

dependent  on  the  chance  contributions  of  their 
hearers.  The  State  government  therefore  made 
provision  for  them.  In  New  England,  a  parsonage 
and  glebe  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  was  com 
monly  given  to  the  pastor.  In  1621-22  a  law  was 
passed  in  Virginia  levying  on  every  male  person  of 
sixteen  a  tax  of  ten  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  one 
bushel  of  corn,  for  the  use  of  the  clergy.  The  ex 
penses  of  building  a  church  were  defrayed  by  a  tax 
upon  the  people  of  a  township.  The  electors  decided 
what  description  of  church  they  would  erect,  and  how 
much  they  would  pay  a  minister  to  occupy  it.  At 
the  time  of  the  Confederation,  it  is  estimated  that 
there  were  eighty  ministers  in  New  England,  or 
one  to  about  three  hundred  of  the  population.  They 
were  all  men  of  education,  and  at  least  half  of 
them  were  graduates  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge.1 
These  were  advantages  which  gave  them  weight  in 
the  ministry.  "  The  consideration  in  which  some 
were  held,"  says  an  American  historian,  "  was  the 
greater  on  account  of  their  being  highly  connected."  * 
The  colonists  were  not  then  ashamed  of  a  certain 
degree  of  aristocratic  feeling,  nor  had  they  become 
avowed  levellers  of  class.  And  the  previous  portions 
of  this  volume  will  explain  why  this  was  the  case. 
A  pure  democracy  was  foreseen  by  none,  and  the 
memorable  discovery  that  laws  could  render  men 
equal  had  not  been  made. 


1  Palfrey's  '  History  of  New  England,'  vol.  ii.  38.  2  Ibid 

N   2 


180  THE   VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.        CHAP.  IX 

In  those  early  days  the  citizen  could  never  forget, 
and  rarely  neglect  with  impunity,  his  religious 
duties.  He  was  made  pious,  or  at  least  to  exhibit 
the  external  signs  of  piety,  by  coercive  measures. 
In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  no  man  had  a 
vote  who  was  not  member  of  a  church.3  In  Virginia 
the  rights  of  citizenship  were  confined  to  members 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  laws  for  the  propa 
gation  of  religion  were  even  more  rigorous  than 
in  Massachusetts.  Persons  were  enjoined  to  attend 
divine  service  every  day,  and  for  the  third  instance 
of  neglect  they  were  liable  to  the  penalty  of  six 
months  at  the  galleys.  If  they  missed  attending 
service  on  Sundays  three  times,  the  law  ordered  the 
punishment  of  death.4  The  first  laws  of  the  colony 
punished  with  death  any  person  speaking  against 
the  Trinity,  or  any  article  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Blasphemy  was  visited  with  the  same  penalty.5  But 
these  merciless  laws  seemed  chiefly  designed  to 
frighten  the  people,  for  there  is  no  evidence  that 
they  were  ever  put  in  force.  In  1024,  however,  the 
Legislature  passed  a  series  of  laws  which  were  acted 
upon,  the  spirit  of  which  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  clause, — "That  whosoever  should  absent 
himself  from  divine  service  any  Sunday,  without  an 
allowable  excuse,  should  forfeit  a  pound  of  tobacco  ; 


3  Baud's    'Religion  in  America'    (New   York,    1856;,   p.  191. 
Palfrey,  i.  345. 

4  Hawkes'  •  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Vir 
ginia,'  p.  26.  5  Baird,  p.  180. 


CHAP.  IX.  PERSECUTION    IN    MASSACHUSETTS.  181 

and  that  he  who  absented  himself  a  month  should 
forfeit  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco."  Until  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  laws  of  the  State  exacted 
conformity  with  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Massachusetts  was  a  hotbed  of  persecution  and 
intolerance.  The  political  government  being  ex 
clusively  in  the  hands  of  church  members,  they  could 
and  did  use  the  civil  arm  as  often  as  they  thought 
proper  in  defence  of  their  own  opinions,  and  for  the 
suppression  of  others.  They  desired,  as  their  nume 
rous  apologists  tell  us,  to  preserve  their  government 
from  corruption,  and  they  acted  upon  the  supposition 
that  elders  of  churches  were  proof  against  ambition 
and  other  passions  and  temptations  to  which  a 
certain  proportion  of  men  in  every  community  are 
found  to  yield.  It  was,  says  one  of  the  historians, 
"  an  aristocracy  of  goodness "  which  they  wished  to 
establish.  It  would  have  been  more  reasonable  to 
have  chosen  all  their  rulers  of  a  certain  height,  or 
made  the  possession  of  six  fingers  on  each  hand  the 
standard  of  worth.  Those  would  have  been  require 
ments  which  were  capable  of  being  brought  to  a 
decisive  test.  But  moral  excellence  defied  measure 
ment.  The  greatest  sinner  often  passed  himself  off 
as  the  holiest  man  of  his  neighbourhood.  There  was 
no  way  of  proving  goodness,  and  consequently  hypo 
crisy  was  substituted  for  it.  The  prize  was  worth 
practising  dissimulation  to  gain,  since  political  power 
was  freely  granted  to  the  pious,  and  those  who 
coveted  it  had  only  to  affect  piety  to  gain  it.  It  was 


182        THE  VOLUNTARY  PRINCIPLE  IN  RELIGION.      CHAP.  ix. 

an  easy  method  of  rising  to  office.  And  if  the  offices 
thus  acquired  were  of  no  great  value  in  a  pecuniary 
sense,  they  were  by  no  means  unimportant  They 
gave  a  man  distinction,,  mark,  and  power  in  his  own 
township,  and  influence  over  his  neighbours.  The 
devout  man  could  soon  be  put  into  the  shade  by  the 
noisy  professor.  The  very  mode  of  admission  to 
the  membership  of  a  church,  the  first  condition  of 
political  rights,  held  the  door  open  to  lying  and  all 
kinds  of  deception.  Candidates  were  received  into 
the  church  "  upon  a  relation  of  their  religious  ex 
perience,  or  other  satisfactory  evidence  of  their 
Christian  character."  In  many  cases  this  "other" 
evidence  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things,  have 
been  forthcoming.  The  candidate's  own  word,  his 
own  description  of  his  own  goodness,  must  have 
been  accepted.  In  such  a  competition,  the  fluent  and 
unscrupulous  hypocrite  would  naturally  shine  out 
brighter  than  the  halting  but  earnest  believer.  It 
was  a  contest  in  which  Mr.  Worldly  Wiseman  and 
Mr.  Facing-both-ways  had  all  the  favourable  condi 
tions  on  their  side.  The  evil  effects  of  such  a  system 
were  soon  felt.  Alarming  troubles  and  dissensions 
sprung  up  in  the  churches,  and  in  1636  a  law  was 
passed  intended  to  have  the  effect  of  weeding  out 
the  false  teachers  and  professors.  The  colonists  were 
evidently  cast  down  at  the  results  of  their  experi 
ment.  "  Forasmuch,"  ran  their  law,  "  as  it  hath 
been  found  by  sad  experience,  that  much  trouble  and 
disturbance  hath  happened  both  to  the  church 


CHAP.  IX.  CONFERENCES   BETWEEN    CHURCHES.  183 

and  civil  state  by  the  officers  and  members  of  some 
churches,  which  have  been  gathered  within  the  limits 
of  this  jurisdiction  in  an  undue  manner  " — therefore 
it  was  provided,  that  no  new  members  should  for  the 
future  be  admitted  without  the  consent  of  the  magis 
trates  and  a  consultation  of  the  different  churches. 
This  was  probably  the  real  foundation  of  that  system 
of  ecclesiastical  councils  or  synods,  which  afterwards 
became  general  in  New  England.  The  churches 
met  and  advised  with  each  other  in  times  of  diffi 
culty,  or  upon  troubled  questions,  without  regard  to 
distinctions  of  sect.  They  had  always  done  so,  but 
never  to  the  same  extent  as  after  they  had  expe 
rienced  the  difficulty  of  wisely  managing  their  own 
affairs.  On  many  occasions  these  friendly  conferences 
proved  the  means  of  healing  dangerous  breaches 
and  schisms.  The  meeting  "  was  summoned  for  a 
special  occasion  ;  it  was  composed  of  clerical  and  lay 
delegates  from  such  and  so  many  of  the  neigh 
bouring  churches  as  circumstances  made  it  conve 
nient  for  the  parties  interested  to  convoke  ;  and  its 
existence  ceased  when  the  occasion  was  over.  It  had 
no  power  to  act  immediately  on  individual  Chris 
tians.  Its  judgment  and  will,  if  carried  into  effect  at 
all,  were  carried  into  effect  by  the  individual  church 
cr  churches  to  which  its  counsel  was  addressed."6 

The  rule  of  sectarianism  gave  rise  to  other  evils 
which  were  found  intolerable  as  the  colony  became 

Palfrey,  ii.  182-83. 


184  TH«    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.         CHAP.  IX, 

larger.  The  governing  men  thought  they  could 
never  be  sufficiently  oppressive.  They  tried  to  kill 
opinion  by  killing  the  individual  who  professed  it. 
Persons  who  differed  from  them  were  imprisoned 
or  driven  into  exile,  and  it  was  fortunate  if  a  harder 
fate  did  not  befall  them.  Superstition  and  bigotry 
took  the  place  of  reason  and  law.  The  errors  ot 
the  old  country  were  repeated,  and  even  exceeded  in 
the  new  world.  Women  were  burnt  on  suspicion  of 
being  witches,  and,  if  any  one  denied  the  inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures,  he  was  first  fined  and  flogged,  and 
then,  if  impenitent,  hanged.  In  1651  four  Quakers 
were  sent  to  the  scaffold  for  daring  to  return  to  the 
colony  after  they  had  been  banished.  This  sect, 
indeed,  was  always  visited  with  peculiar  severity. 
"  It  is  true,"  says  a  modern  writer,  in  extenua 
tion  of  these  crimes,  that  Quakers  "behaved  in 
the  most  fanatical  and  outrageous  manner.  Even 
women  among  them,  forgetting  the  proprieties  and 
decencies  of  their  sex,  ....  smeared  their  faces 
and  ran  naked  through  the  streets."  7  These  occa 
sional  vagaries  were  a  poor  justification  for  all  the 
cruelties  heaped  upon  the  harmless  Friends.  Two 
women  who  arrrived  from  Barbadoes  in  1656  were 
ordered  to  return  immediately,  kept  in  gaol  till  a 
ship  could  take  them  away,  and  had  their  books 
burnt  by  the  common  hangman.  Eight  others  who 
arrived  from  England  were  carried  straight  from  the 


7  Baird,  189. 


OUT.  IX.  PERSECUTIONS    OF    QUAKERS.  185 

ship  to  prison  and  there  detained.  Connecticut 
imposed  a  fine  of  five  pounds  a  week  upon  every 
town  that  should  "  entertain  any  Quakers,  Ranters, 
Adamites,  or  such  like  notorious  heretics."  Captains 
of  vessels  who  brought  such  persons  over  were  obliged 
to  take  them  back  at  their  own  expense,  and  in 
Massachusetts  they  were  fined  one  hundred  pounds 
for  every  Quaker  they  landed.  In  1656  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts  met  to  enact  further  pro 
ceedings  against  the  "  cursed  sect  of  heretics  lately 
risen  up  in  the  world,  which  are  commonly  called 
Quakers."  It  was  ordered  that  every  Quaker  found 
in  the  colony  should  be  sent  to  gaol,  severely  whipped, 
and  kept  to  hard  labour  and  solitary  confinement. 
Several  persons  soon  afterwards  suffered  the  penalties 
of  this  law.  In  1657  the  fine  for  harbouring  Quakers 
was  increased  to  forty  shillings  for  each  hour. 
Quakers  who  had  once  been  punished,  and  were 
caught  in  the  colony  a  second  time,  were  to  be 
deprived  of  an  ear ;  for  a  third  offence  they  lost  the 
other  ear ;  and  for  the  fourth  they  had  their  tongues 
bored  through  with  a  hot  iron.8  Several  men  and 
women  professing  the  obnoxious  creed  were  hanged 
for  refusing  to  leave  the  colony.  At  first  this  treat 
ment  made  fanatics  of  many  of  the  persecuted.  They 
walked  in  procession  through  the  towns  clad  in 
ridiculous  costumes.  Young  and  chaste  women  went 
into  congregations  stark  naked  "as  a  sign."9  Of 


8  Palfrey's  '  New  England,'  ii.  468.  »  Ibid.  ii.  483. 


186  THE   VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.        CHAP.  IX. 

one  of  these  persons  the  chronicler  says  that  this 
trial  of  her  faith  was  "  exceeding  hard  to  her  modest 
and  shamefaced  disposition."  Deborah  Wilson,  "  a 
young  woman  of  very  modest  and  retired  life,  and 
of  sober  conversation,  as  were  her  parents,  walked 
through  Salem  naked."  Mary  Dyer  was  taken  to 
the  gallows  (1660),  and  died  saying,  "  In  obedience 
to  the  will  of  the  Lord  I  came,  and  in  his  will  I 
abide  faithful  to  the  death."  A  Massachusetts  his 
torian  of  our  own  day  makes  a  troubled  effort  to 
excuse  the  former  rulers  of  the  colony.  "  The  pro 
vocations,"  he  says,  "  which  were  offered  were  ex 
ceedingly  offensive."  But  he  thinks  the  culprits 
ought  not  to  have  been  put  to  death.  "  Sooner  than 
that,"  he  exclaims,  "it  were  devoutly  to  be  wished 
that  the  annoyed  dwellers  in  Massachusetts  had 
opened  their  hospitable  drawing-rooms  to  naked 
women,  and  suffered  their  ministers  to  ascend  the 
pulpits  by  steps  paved  with  fragments  of  glass 
bottles."  But  they  treated  the  Quakers  in  a  very 
different  spirit,  and  the  stain  of  their  cruelty  rests 
indelibly  upon  the  page  of  history. 

From  this  glance  at  the  early  history  of  religion 
in  America,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  freedom  of 
opinion  at  present  enjoyed  has  been  of  very  gradual 
growth.  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland, 
were  the  first  States  which  did  away  with  religious 
disabilities  and  penalties.  Rhode  Island,  indeed,  had 
always  extended  the  fullest  licence  and  liberty  to 
her  inhabitants. 


CHAP.  IX.  STATE    SUPPORT   WITHDRAWN.  187 

When  once  this  toleration  was  allowed,  the  Non 
conformists  spread  and  multiplied  rapidly,  and  they 
became  so  diversified  in  creed  as  to  render  the  iden 
tification  of  the  State  with  one  particular  sect  no 
longer  practicable.  Which  sect  should  it  support? 
No  one  could  decide.  In  New  England  the  Epis 
copal  Church  was  not  an  object  of  veneration,  for 
many  of  the  emigrants  were  Nonconformists  who 
had  fled  from  Europe  to  escape  from  her  restraints 
and  from  her  severities.  They  were  not  likely  to 
kiss  the  rod  which  had  smitten  them.  They  brought 
their  religion  with  them,  and  demanded  the  right  to 
practice  it  unmolested.  Men  objected  to  being  taxed 
for  the  support  of  any  church  but  their  own.  What 
occurred  in  Virginia  affords  a  perfect  example  of  the 
mode  by  which  Church  and  State  were  separated  in 
America.  The  Presbyterians  became  so  numerous  in 
the  middle  of  last  century  that  their  wishes  could  no 
longer  be  despised.  They  petitioned  the  House  of  As 
sembly  for  a  redress  of  their  grievances,  among  which 
they  enumerated  their  being  compelled  annually  to 
pay  large  taxes  to  support  an  establishment  from  which 
their  "  consciences  and  their  principles  oblige  them 
to  dissent."  "We  ask,"  they  added,  "  no  ecclesias 
tical  establishments  for  ourselves,  neither  can  we 
approve  of  them  when  granted  to  others."  Memorials 
to  the  same  effect  were  presented  by  other  Noncon 
formist  bodies.  The  adherents  of  the  Established 
Church  endeavoured  to  protect  their  interests,  and 
they  succeeded  in  gaining  many  delays,  but  the 


188  THE   VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.         CHAP.  IX. 

pressure  upon  them  was  too  constant  and  too  strong 
to  be  resisted.  In  America  the  majority  must  have 
what  they  ask.  The  Virginian  Legislature  in  1776 
passed  a  law  removing  religious  disabilities,  and  re 
leasing  Dissenters  from  all  demands  upon  them  on 
account  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  A  general  assess 
ment  for  the  support  of  all  denominations,  the  pro 
ceeds  to  be  divided  equally  among  them,  was  after 
wards  frequently  proposed,  but  never  adopted.10 

In  other  States,  about  the  same  period,  the 
growth  of  Dissent  was  equally  remarkable.  Between 
1731  and  1750,  a  great  impetus  was  given  to  this 
movement  in  the  churches  by  a  series  of  revivals 
which  took  place  throughout  the  country.  Their 
success  was  greatly  owing  to  Whitefield,  to  whom  the 
people  eagerly  flocked  wherever  he  went.  Large 
crowds  assembled  to  hear  him,  day  and  night.  Strong 
men  were  struck  down  suddenly  under  the  power  of 
the  word.  At  Concord  he  had,  in  his  own  words,  a 
"  comfortable  preaching."  The  hearers  were  *'  sweetly 
melted  down."  n  He  tells  us  that  when  he  preached 
at  Staten  Island,  the  "  word  fell  like  a  hammer  and 
like  a  fire."  At  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen 
tury  there  was  another  great  revival,  and  a  successor 


10  For  the  facts  here  mentioned  I  have  consulted  chiefly  Dr. 
Hawkes'  *  History  of  the  Virginian  Church,'  and  the  '  Eecords  of  the 
Conventions  held  in  Virginia,'  to  which  the  Librarian  of  the  Capitol 
at  Washington  kindly  gave  me  access.     I  am  indebted  to  him  for 
many  similar  facilities. 

11  '  The  Great  Awakening,'  by  Joseph  Tracy   (Boston,  1842  .   See 
pp.  93-97. 


CHAP.  IX.  INCREASE   OF   NONCONFORMIST    SECTS.  189 

to  Whitefield,  by  name  Lorenzo  Dow,  is  said  to  have 
performed  wonderful  works  therein.  At  Knoxville, 
Tennessee,  where  he  preached,  "  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  his  hearers  were  exercised  with  the  jerks." 
Sometimes  the  person  who  received  the  truth  was 
thrown  to  the  ground  by  its  power.  "  where  he  flounced 
like  a  live  fish."  ]  The  jerks  became  an  epidemic. 
Dow  writes :  "  I  have  passed  a  meeting-house,  where 
I  observed  the  undergrowth  had  been  cut  for  a  camp 
meeting,  and  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  saplings  were 
left  breast-high,  on  purpose  for  the  people  who  were 
jerked  to  hold  on  by.  I  observed,  where  they  had 
held  on,  they  had  kicked  up  the  earth,  as  a  horse 
stamping  flies."  "  Sometimes,"  we  are  further  told, 
the  converted  ones  "  cursed  and  swore  and  damned." 13 
The  process  of  regeneration  could  not  always,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  have  been  an  edifying  spectacle  to  the 
brethren  who  looked  on. 

These  revivals,  wild  and  ridiculous  as  some  of  the 
incidents  which  attended  them  may  appear,  greatly 
increased  the  number  of  churches  of  all  Noncon 
formist  denominations.  Tracy  states  that  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  Congregational  churches  were  formed 
in  less  than  twenty  years.  "  A  considerable  number," 
he  says,  "  of  separatist  churches  were  formed,  which 
really  added  to  the  strength  of  the  Kedeemer's  king 
dom."  u  At  first  the  abrupt  separation  from  the 
State  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  Episcopal  Church, 


"  Tracy,  p.  222.  13  Ibid.  I4  Ibid.  p.  390. 


190  THE    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.         CHAP.  IX. 

especially  in  Virginia,  where  it  had  possessed  more 
attached  adherents,  and  been  more  prosperous,  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  country.  When  the  State 
forsook  it,  the  clergy  scarcely  knew  where  to  look  for 
the  means  of  living,  and  many  of  them  returned  to 
England.  But  that  hour  of  trial  was  soon  over.  The 
followers  of  the  Church  rallied  to  its  aid  with  a  single 
heart  and  purpose.  As  the  political  system  of  the 
country  gradually  produced  its  natural  fruits,  the 
voluntary  system  in  religion  became  inevitable.  Any 
other  would  have  been  impracticable.  Where  all 
men  are  on  an  equality  as  regards  their  political 
rights,  a  preference  cannot  be  exhibited  by  the  go 
vernment  for  one  religious  sect  rather  than  another. 
There  is  no  class  with  exclusive  rights,  and  to  no 
form  of  religion  can  there  be  given  exclusive  pri 
vileges.  Each  State  in  framing  its  laws  adopts  the 
theory  which  has  been  described  in  a  few  words : — 
"  We  consider  the  primary  end  of  government  as  a 
purely  temporal  end,  the  protection  of  the  persons 
and  property  of  men."  15  The  Constitutions  of  the 
States  of  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  and  Indiana — a 
New  England,  a  Southern,  and  a  Western  State — 
may  be  taken  as  fair  examples  of  all  the  rest  with 
respect  to  this  particular  subject.  They  vary  in  lan 
guage,  not  in  ideas.  Massachusetts  guarantees  that 
"  no  subject  shall  be  hurt,  molested,  or  restrained  in 
his  person,  liberty,  or  estate  for  worshipping  God  in 


u  Macaulay,  '  Essay  on  Churcb  and  State.' 


Cttir.  IX.         PRESENT    LAWS    CONCERNING    RELIGION.  191 

the  manner  and  seasons  most  agreeable  to  Ihe  dic 
tates  of  his  own  conscience,  or  for  liis  religious  pro 
fession  or  sentiments."  There  is  a  tincture  left  of 
the  spirit  of  old  enactments  in  the  third  clause, 
which  asserts  that  the  people  of  the  commonwealth 
have  a  right  to  invest  their  Legislature  with  the 
authority  to  require  local  communities  "  to  make 
suitable  provision,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the  insti 
tution  of  the  public  worship  of  God,"  and  also  to 
"  enjoin  "  upon  "  all  tho  subjects  an  attendance  upon 
the  instructions  of  the  public  teachers ;  "  but  this 
power  is  so  remotely  placed  that  it  could  never  be 
exercised.  The  declaration  of  rights  prefixed  to  the 
Constitution  of  Virginia  declares  that  "  all  men  are 
equally  entitled  to  the  free  exercise  of  religion,  ac 
cording  to  the  dictates  of  conscience  ;  and  that  it  is 
the  mutual  duty  of  all  to  practise  Christian  forbear 
ance,  love,  and  charity  towards  each  other."  In  this 
State,  as  in  six  others,  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  are 
ineligible  to  sit  in  either  House  of  Assembly,  or  to 
hold  political  office.  The  Constitution  of  Indiana 
provides  that  liberty  of  conscience  shall  never  be 
restrained  by  law,  and  that  "  no  preference  shall  be 
given  by  law  to  any  creed,  religious  society,  or  mode 
of  worship ;  and  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  attend, 
erect,  or  support  any  place  of  worship,  or  to  maintain 
any  minister  against  his  consent."  The  Federal  Con 
stitution  itself  distinctly  provides  that  "  no  religious 
test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States,"  and 


192  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.        CHAP.  IX. 

by  the  first  amendment,  Congress  is  prohibited  from 
making  any  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  reli 
gion.  Thus,  the  principle  of  the  government,  Federal 
and  State,  with  regard  to  religion,  is  clearly  and 
emphatically  expressed.  The  people  are  to  be  left 
unfettered.  Ministers  of  religion  are  to  live  by  their 
calling  as  best  they  can,  and  none  of  them  have  any 
where  to  look  for  support  outside  their  own  congre 
gations. 

Let  us  now  endeavour  to  ascertain  whether  this 
system  works  well  or  ill.  Does  religion  prosper 
under  it  ?  The  statistics  of  the  churches  will  show 
that  it  does,  so  far  as  regards  its  maintenance  and 
support.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  numbers  of 
churches  and  ministers  at  the  revolutionary  period, 
but  the  best  authorities  estimate  the  former  at  1940 
and  the  latter  at  1441.  "  It  seems  very  certain," 
says  Baird,  "  that  in  1775  the  total  number  of  Minis 
ters  of  the  Gospel  in  the  United  States  did  not  exceed 
fourteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  nor  the  congrega 
tions  nineteen  hundred  and  forty."16  The  authorities 
vary  much  in  regard  to  the  numbers  of  churches  at 
the  present  day.  Baird,  whose  book  was  published 
in  1856,  reckons  them  at  41,859,  of  all  denomina 
tions  ;  while  the  ministers  numbered  29,430,  and 
the  members  4,176,431.  In  a  work  published  in 
1854  it. is  estimated  that  there  were  then  existing 
36,011  church  edifices,  affording  accommodation  for 


w  4  Religion  in  America,'  p.  210. 


Ciur.  IX.  THE    MAINTENANCE    OF    CHUKCHES.  193 

nearly  14,000,000  of  persons.  This  allowed  a 
church  for  every  646  of  the  population.17  In  1866, 
according  to  returns  published  by  the  respective 
sects,  the  Baptists  numbered  1,043,641,  with  12,675 
churches;  the  Methodists  were  1,032,184;  and  the 
Episcopalians  had  161,224  communicants,  with  34 
dioceses,  44  bishops,  and  2530  clergy.  'Of  the  clergy 
it  has  been  stated  that  "  not  more  than  one  in  six 
were  born  and  bred  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  They 
had  been  gathered  into  the  fold  from  all  quarters." 18 
These  figures  make  palpable  to  the  eye  the  pro 
gress  of  religion,  so  far  as  the  means  for  its 
outward  observance  are  concerned.  But  something 
more  is  needed  to  show  the  full  working  of  the  volun 
tary  principle.  Are  the  churches  properly  supported  ? 
Is  it  difficult  to  raise  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  place 
of  worship  and  the  support  of  the  pastor  ?  This,  of 
course,  depends  greatly  on  the  inclination  and  de 
sires  of  the  community.  If  they  are  anxious  to  have 
a  church,  they  soon  get  it.  In  the  older  towns,  every 
denomination  is  usually  rich  enough  to  maintain 
its  ministers  in  comfortable  circumstances.  But  in 
scantily  populated  rural  districts,  or  in  new  settle 
ments,  religion  starves.  The  early  preachers  are 
little  better  off  than  the  missionaries  to  a  foreign 
land.  They  must  share  all  the  hardships  and  priva 
tions  of  the  rude  pioneers  who  have  undertaken  to 


'7   Vide   'Religious    Denominations   in   the   United    States,'    by 
Joseph  Belcher,  D.U.  'Philadelphia,  1854,. 

18  Sermon  hy  the  Bishop  of  Rhode  Island,  Sept.  1^67. 

O 


194:  THE   VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.         CITAP.  IX. 

turn  primeval  forests  into  fertile  fields.  If  there  are 
women  in  the  new  community,  religious  worship  may 
be  encouraged,  but  otherwise  the  strolling  preacher, 
who  drops  in  accidentally,  and  preaches  his  sermon, 
and  goes  his  way  after  collecting  a  few  dollars,  satis 
fies  the  settlers.  As  the  ground  is  cleared,  and  a 
village  springs  up,  and  the  village  grows  into  a  town, 
the  agents  of  religious  societies  are  sent  there  to 
begin  the  organization  of  a  regular  church.  At 
first  they  meet  where  they  can — in  a  barn,  a  hut,  or 
a  spare  room  of  one  of  the  congregation.  Then 
they  put  their  money  together,  and  perhaps  a  little 
help  is  gained  from  outside,  and  a  church  is  built. 
A  schoolhouse  soon  follows,  and  in  a  few  years 
every  sect  in  the  settlement  has  its  own  meeting 
house.  Every  one  helps  in  the  work,  each  in  pro 
portion  to  his  means.  As  the  community  grows 
richer,  religion  prospers  with  it.  All  are  satisfied, 
for  all  have  contributed  voluntarily,  and  can  give 
more  or  cease  to  give  anything  the  moment  they 
please.19 

But  the  vast  majority  of  these  churches,  no  matter 


19  It  is  under  these  circumstances  that  Minnesota  has  done  so 
much  for  the  Episcopal  Church,  owing  doubtless  to  the  personal 
exertions  of  its  indefatigable  diocesan,  Bishop  Whipple. — Some  years 
ago,  an  English  clergyman,  the  Eev.  H.  Caswall,  saw  a  church  at 
Buffalo  which  was  being  built  by  the  contributions  of  the  congrega 
tion.  "  The  ladies  had  carpeted  the  church  throughout,  at  a  cost  of 
1000  dollars,  and  the  young  men  had  already  raised  a  fund  of  1200 
dollars  towards  the  purchase  of  a  peal  of  bells.  The  children  had 
furnished  the  font,  and  a  stained  glass  window."  (See  the  '  Western 
World  Revisited.')  The  same  thing  is  done  everywhere. 


CHAP.  IX.          INSUFFICIENT    PAYMENT    OF    THE    CLERGY.  195 

by  what  name  'hey  are  called,  must  necessarily  be 
poor.  It  is  then  the  Minister  or  Priest  who  suffers 
first,  and  subsequently  the  congregation,  by  the  intro 
duction  into  the  priesthood  of  an  inferior  order  of 
men.  The  illiterate  will  be  tempted  to  enter  a  pro 
fession  which  they  find  easy  of  access,  and  at  least 
as  profitable  to  them  as  shoemaking  ;  but  the  man  of 
education  will  often  shrink  back  from  a  career  which 
dooms  him  to  poverty  all  his  days,  and  shuts  out 
every  hope  of  advancement.  He  cannot  marry,  or, 
if  he  does,  he  will  often  find  it  no  easy  matter  to  win 
bread  for  his  family.  Many  men  in  all  countries 
take  up  the  work  of  religious  instruction  with  the 
sole  object  and  ambition  of  doing  good,  and  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted  that  there  are  thousands  who  cheer 
fully  make  this  sacrifice  of  self-interest  in  the  United 
States.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  hard  trial  for  a  young 
man  who  has  been  well  trained,  at  Harvard  or  Yale, 
and  who  has  lucrative  professions  open  to  him,  with 
friends  and  influence  to  push  him  on,  to  follow 
the  thorny  path  where  he  will  have  to  feed  upon 
the  crumbs  which  fall  from  the  tables  of  his  congre 
gation,  and  walk  with  many  strange  companions. 
Some  do  it ;  but  many  more  turn  away.  "  Minis 
ters  of  the  Gospel,"  said  Cotton  Mather,  "  would 
have  a  poor  time  of  it,  if  they  must  rely  on  a  free 
contribution  of  the  people  for  their  maintenance.'* 
And  they  have  "  a  poor  time  of  it "  as  a  rule,  except 
in  large  cities  or  rich  parishes.  Very  many  ministers 
of  the  Baptist  persuasion  receive  no  salaries  at  all, 

o  2 


1'  G  THE    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.          CHAP.  DL 

and  eain  a  living  how  they  can.20  The  average 
salary  of  ministers  of  all  denominations  is  estimated 
to  be  about  four  hundred  dollars  a  year.  The  ave 
rage  in  the  Episcopal  Church  is  three  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.21  The  Episcopal  Bishop  of  New  York 
is  said  to  be  the  highest  paid  religious  functionary 
in  the  country,  and  he  receives  six  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  "  No  men  among  us,"  says  Dr.  Belcher, 
"  work  harder ;  no  professional  men  are  so  poorly  paid 
for  their  work.  Financially,  they  rank  upon  an  ave 
rage  below  school  teachers."  Sometimes  a  popular 
preacher,  in  a  large  town,  will  draw  so  great  a  throng 
of  listeners  that  it  is  worth  while  to  let  the  pews  by 
auction,  and  thus  a  considerable  income  is  secured. 
But  such  cases  are  rare,  and  the  clergy  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  are  badly  off.  The  consequence  is  that  the 
reservoir  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel  is  the  poorer  class 
of  artisans,  and  even  in  flourishing  cities  men  of  the 
rudest  education  are  sometimes  found  in  charge  of 
large  congregations. 

In  many  religious  bodies  the  pastor  is  chosen  by 
the  congregation.  It  is  so  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
but  the  consent  of  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  is  neces 
sary  before  a  clergyman  can  officiate.  The  Roman 
Catholic  priests  are  appointed  by  their  bishops,  with 
out  reference  to  the  wishes  of  the  congregations. 
Among  the  Methodists  they  are  selected  at  an  an- 


20  Baird,  p.  276. 

21  Belcher's  '  Religious  Denominations,'  p.  482.     Buird,  however, 
est  iron  tea  their  stipend  at  600  dollars. 


CHAP.  IX.  THE    AMERICAN    PRAYEK-BOOK^        RE  £^'197 


nual  conference.  The  Episcopal  Chtirck  br^fnierjca 
differs  from  the  English  chiefly  in  ceX^^P^^fioa^  > 
tions  which  it  has  introduced  into  its  forms'  aji&  ^re- 
monies.  The  services  have  been  abridged,  tn^SjJjin^  A<. 
nasian  Creed  omitted  from  the  Prayer  Book,  the 
marriage  and  burial  services  modified,  and  a  number 
of  verbal  alterations  introduced  into  the  ritual,  which 
seem  fastidious  rather  than  necessary  or  judicious.'22 
In  the  government  of  the  Church  each  State  is  made 
into  a  separate  diocese,23  and  an  annual  convention  is 
held  in  every  diocese  to  regulate  its  affairs.  This  con 
vention  is  composed  of  the  clergy,  and  one  or  more  lay 
members,  who  are  chosen  by  the  people,  or  perhaps 
by  the  wardens  and  vestry.  The  clergy  form  one 


22  The  language  has  been  suited  to  nice  ears,  and  the  grammar  (as 
I  suppose  it  is  considered)  improved.     "  Those  "  has  invariably  been 
substituted  for  "them"'  as  a  relative  pronoun,  even  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer.     As  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  the  English  has  been 
refined,  take  the  following,  from  the  "Collect  for  Grat-e."     In  the 
English  version  the  sentence  reads:  "but  that  all  our  doings  may 
be  ordered  by  thy  governance  to  do  always  that  is  righteous  in  thy 
sight."     lu  the  American  book  it  appears  thus:  "but  that  all  our 
doings,  being  ordered  by  thy  governance,  may  be  righteous  in  tliy 
sight" — a  pedantic  schoolmaster's  correction.     In  the  prayer  for  the 
President  adapted  from  that  fur  the  Queen),  "  health  and  prosperity" 
are  prayed  for  instead  of  "health  and  wealth."'    But  the  purist  altera 
tions  are  the  most  extraordinary.     In  the  Te  Deum  we  read :  "  when 
thou  tookest  upon  thee  to  deliver  man  thou  didst  humble  thyself  to  be 
born  of  a  Virgin  " — the  old  version  not  being  deemed  suitable  to 
polite  ears.     In  the  Litany,  instead  of,  "  From  fornication  and  all 
oilier  deadly  sin,"  we  read,  "  From  all  inordinate  and  sinful  afl'eu- 
tious.'       "To  dread  thee,"  is  changed  into  "fear  thee;''  "to  raise 
up  them  that  fall,"  into  "  to  raise  up  those  who  fall ;  "  4i  so  as  in  du  • 
tune  we  may  enjoy  them,"  into  "  so  that  in  due  time,"  &c. 

23  In  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  there  are  two  dioceses. 


198  THE   VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN   RELIGION.         CHAP.  IX. 

house  and  the  laity  another,  and  a  concurrent  vote  of 
both  is  required  on  any  question  before  any  new  rule 
or  law  can  be  made.  A  general  convention  of  all  the 
churches  is  held  once  in  three  years,  and  in  this 
the  Bishops  form  the  upper  house,  and  the  clergy 
and  laity  the  lower.  The  Church  is  left  free  to  order 
its  affairs  after  its  own  desire,  but  there  is  a  case  in 
which  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York 
interfered  to  prevent  a  Bishop  deposing  a  clergyman 
on  the  ground  of  immorality,  which  had  been  proved 
against  him.  The  question,  however,  with  the  Court 
was  whether  the  canons  of  the  Church  had  been 
strictly  followed,  for,  if  so,  it  had  no  jurisdiction.  It 
was  decided  that  there  had  been  no  irregularity,  and 
the  Bishop  removed  the  clergyman. 

It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  extended  its  authority  more  rapidly  and 
widely  in  the  United  States  than  any  other  religious 
order.  But  the  truth  is  that  its  prosperity  is  main 
tained  only  by  the  constant  influx  of  its  followers, 
in  large  numbers,  from  Europe.  Roman  Catholicism 
does  not  take  a  firm  root  among  the  people.  The 
native-born  American  seldom  joins  the  Church,  and 
the  second  generation  of  Irish  settlers  wander  away 
from  it.  It  is  the  Irish  emigration  which  sustains  it, 
and  consequently  it  is  powerful  only  in  a  few  of  the 
largest  cities  on  the  line  of  emigration,  such  as  New 
York  and  Chicago,  Cincinnatti  and  St.  Louis.  The 
Archbishops  and  Bishops  are  appointed  by  the  Pope, 
and  receive  fixed  salaries,  partly  from  the  cathedral 


CHAP.  IX.  CLAIMS    OF    THE    VOLUNTARY    SYSTEM.  191) 

church,  partly  by  an  assessment  upon  the  clergy. 
The  priests  depend  entirely  upon  voluntary  contri 
butions,  and  fees  for  marriages  and  other  rites  and 
ceremonies. 

Two  special  merits  are  claimed  for  the  voluntary 
over  the  compulsory  system — (1)  That  a  church  can 
be  properly  supported  by  voluntary  contributions  with 
perfect  success,  and  with  no  cause  of  dissatisfaction 
being  given  to  any ;  and  (2)  that  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State  keeps  the  Church  within  its  proper 
sphere,  far  removed  from  the  dangerous  whirlpool  of 
politics.  The  first  of  these  claims  is  substantiated  by 
the  facts,  for,  whatever  individual  ministers  may  suffer, 
the  Church  is  constantly  extending  its  influence,  and 
benevolent  societies  and  schools  are  liberally  sup 
ported.  It  has  been  proved  that  the  Church — any 
church — can  exist  very  well,  can  flourish  and  mul 
tiply  its  followers,  without  borrowing  aid  or  counte 
nance  from  the  State.  But  the  separation  does  not 
keep  politics  and  political  influences  from  reaching 
religion.  De  Tocqueville  states  that  the  clergy  in 
America  "  keep  aloof  from  parties  and  from  public 
affairs."24  If  this  was  the  case  when  De  Tocqueville 
visited  the  country,  he  would  be  greatly  surprised 
could  he  revisit  it  now.  It  is  like  his  strange  re 
mark  that  "  almost  all  education  is  intrusted  to  the 
clergy," 25  whereas  the  clergy  have  actually  far  less  to 
do  with  education  than  in  England.  Perhaps  in  no 


Chapter  xvii.  388.  ^  Ibid. 


200  THE    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.         CHAP.  IX. 

country  ill  the  world  is  the  pulpit  used  for  hustings 
purposes  so  systematically,  with  the  general  en 
couragement  of  public  approval,  as  in  America.  The 
Almighty  is  constantly  exhorted  to  compass  the  return 
of  the  popular  candidate,  and  the  misery  and  dis 
comfiture  of  his  rival.  The  morning  sermon  in  some 
churches  is  a  diffuse  essay  upon  the  events  of  the  day, 
in  which  the  Divine  approval  is  announced  of  certain 
political  opinions.  New  England  preachers  address 
their  hearers,  in  a  time  of  excitement,  as  if  from  the 
stump.  The  Chaplain  in  Congress  during  1865-67 
prayed  daily  against  the  President,  "  that  he  might 
be  humbled  and  cast  down,"  and  that  his  own  party 
might  be  covered  with  great  glory.  The  best  known 
preacher  in  America  gains  his  notoriety  solely  by  the 
freedom  with  which  he  discusses  on  Sunday  morning, 
from  a  text  of  Scripture,  the  acts  of  public  men,  and 
the  turn  affairs  are  likely  to  take.  There  is  probably 
no  good  reason  why  it  should  not  be  so ;  but  there  is 
certainly  no  reason  why  the  fact  should  be  denied. 
Religion  will  always  influence  the  course  of  human 
affairs,  and  in  America  it  will  interfere  in  politics  all 
the  more  energetically  because' it  is  not  in  any  way 
dependent  upon  the  State,  but  is  free  to  speak  openly 
and  without  fear  of  losing  its  allowance.  The  preacher 
accommodates  himself  to  the  tastes  and  wishes  of  his 
congregation,  and  if  they  demand  from  him  matter 
which  would  be  more  suitable  in  the  columns  of  the 
Sunday  newspaper,  they  will  have  the  article,  or  turn 
him  out  and  elect  another  man  willing  to  supply  it. 


CUAI>.  IX.  THE    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  201 

Politics  and  religion  cannot  be  kept  apart.  During 
the  rebellion  every  sect  shared  in  the  general  dis 
union,  save  the  Episcopal  Church.  All  through  that 
dark  and  stormy  period,  she  endeavoured  to  preserve 
her  children  within  her  fold  in  the  old  relations  of 
friendship  and  love.  In  the  Northern  Conventions 
the  names  of  the  Southern  bishops  were  called  over, 
although  none  answered.  The  victors,  who  had  not 
seen  their  churches  burnt  to  the  ground,  who  had  not 
been  forced  to  stand  by  helpless  while  their  sacred 
plate  was  carried  off  by  a  drunken  soldiery*  and  while 
their  registers  and  papers  were  destroyed,  who  had 
not  witnessed  the  havoc  and  destruction  of  all  that 
their  congregations  held  precious — these  could  easily 
invite  their  brethren  to  be  reconciled.  But  in  the 
South  it  was  different.  There,  the  church  and  the 
school,  the  parsonage  and  the  farm,  had  alike  been 
pillaged  or  reduced  to  ashes.  Time-honoured  edifices 
had  been  riddled  with  cannot-shot,  as  at  Charleston, 
or  torn  to  pieces  to  be  made  into  hospitals  and  stables, 
as  at  Wilmington  and  other  towns,  or  levelled  with  the 
ground,  as  in  Columbia.  Sunday  after  Sunday  the  con 
gregations  came  to  service  with  their  women  in  mourn 
ing  garments  and  their  young  men  gone.  "  When 
my  church  was  set  on  fire,"  said  an  aged  clergyman  to 
me,  "  I  took  one  of  my  negroes  into  the  vestry  and 
bade  him  take  hold  of  the  plate-chest,  while  I  seized 
the  other  handle.  We  carried  it  into  the  street,  but 
some  soldiers  met  us,  and  one  of  them  slapped  me  in 
the  face,  and  abused  me,  and  made  me  drop  it — and 


202  THE    VOLUNTARY   PRINCIPLE   IN    RELIGION.        CHAP.  IX. 

I  saw  no  more  of  it."  Such  occurrences  could  not 
happen  without  leaving  a  deep  mark.26  Many  of  the 
Southern  clergy  held  aloof  from  the  Convention  of 
1 865,  but  the  bishops  appeared  in  it,  although  some 
desired  that  the  Churches  of  the  North  and  the  South 
should  remain  distinct  organizations,  as  they  been 
during  the  war.27  But  these  feelings  softened  down, 
and  the  Churches  are  united  again  as  of  old.  Other 
denominations  were  long  ago  torn  asunder  by  sectional 
political  differences.  Once,  in  the  words  of  Calhoun, 
who  thought  he  saw  in  religious  differences  a  fore 
shadowing  of  general  disunion,  "  all  were  organised 
very  much  upon  the  principle  of  our  political  institu 
tions;  beginning  with  smaller  meetings  correspond 
ing  with  the  political  divisions  of  the  country,  their 
organisations  terminated  in  one  great  central  assem 
blage,  corresponding  very  much  with  the  character  of 
Congress." 28  But  men  who  hated  each  other  because 
of  political  differences,  would  not  meet  in  friendship 
just  because  they  were  invited  to  meet  in  a  church. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  will  be  seen  that  free 
dom,  equality,  and  self-maintenance  are  the  principles 
upon  which  religious  work  is  carried  out  in  America. 
In  the  government  of  the  Episcopal  Church  the  laity 
have  as  much  influence  as  the  clergy.  In  nearly  all 


26  It  will  be  observed  that  I  am  not  referring  to  the  cause  or 
merits  of  the  war,  but  merely  accounting  for  the  bitter  spirit  which 
existed  in  the  minds  of  Southern  clergy  (in  common  with  their 
people)  immediately  after  it  was  over. 

#  See  a  letter  to  the  '  Times,'  published  31st  August,  1855. 

-8  Calhoun's  speech  in  the  Senate,  March  4th,  1850. 


CHAP.  IX.  POLITICS    AND    THE    PULPIT.  203 

other  denominations  the  Church  is  controlled  by  the 
laity.  The  common  theoretical  objections  which  are 
urged  against  the  voluntary  principle  are  not  found 
impediments  m  actual  practice.  "An  established 
church,"  says  Lord  Brougham,29 "  enables  the  govern 
ment  to  be  administered  without  any  serious  ob 
struction  arising  from  the  operation  of  public  feelings 
excited  by  spiritual  guides."  Whereas,  the  reverse  of 
this,  he  argues,  is  the  case  in  America,  and  moreover 
he  contends  that  pastors  elected  by  the  people  can 
do  little  good  by  their  ministrations,  for  the  minority 
will  not  listen  to  the  man  "  whose  unfitness  they  have 
been  proclaiming." 

It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  political  passions  are 
sometimes  fostered  in  the  United  States  by  ministers 
of  religion,  but  that  is  an  evil  not  peculiar,  or  neces 
sarily  incidental  to,  the  voluntary  principle.  The 
State  patronage  of  religion  can  never  be  used  as  a 
weapon  against  the  government,  whereas  in  England 
party  or  individual  preferences  or  prejudices  often 
originate  in  the  opposition  to  the  alliance  of  Church 
and  State.  The  Church  makes  enemies  because 
it  shelters  itself  behind  the  political  power;  the 
State  makes  enemies  because  it  singles  out  one 
particular  church  for  all  its  patronage  and  encou 
ragement.  The  members  of  other  churches  are 
jealous  and  aggrieved,  and  it  is  easy  to  stir  up  in 
their  minds  "  excited  feelings."  When  the  State 
preserves  an  impartial  attitude  towards  all  sects  none 

'•'*  '  Treatise  on  the  British  Constitution.' 


204  TUB    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.         CHAP.  IX. 

have  cause  to  be  jealous  of  it.  When  it  allies  itseli 
\vith  one  special  sect,  that  sect  alone  has  a  direct  in 
terest  in  supporting  it,  and  all  the  rest  (supposing  no 
<  ther  considerations  entered  in)  would1  be  thrown  into 
antagonism.  Loyalty  and  patriotism  are  sufficient  to 
cast  into  the  shade  the  question  of  self-interest,  and 
it  is  not  in  England  that  the  established  powers  have 
to  fear  aught  from  Nonconformists.  Lord  Brougham 
says  that  he  dreads  the  influence  of  "  an  all-powerful 
and  wholly  independent  clergy."  Experience  in  the 
United  States  shows  how  imaginary  is  such  a  fear. 
There  the  clergy  are  "  wholly  independent,"  but  they 
do  not  seek  to  injure  the  State,  from  the  very  motives 
which  make  English  Dissenters  good  subjects — the 
existence  of  loyalty  and  patriotism.  Lord  Brougham's 
argument  implies  that  the  only  way  to  keep  the  clergy 
loyal  is  to  fetter  their  independence,  for  the  moment 
they  are  made  free  they  will  assail  the  political  fabric. 
If  the  State  is  to  have  them  on  its  side  it  must  pay 
them.  Such  a  supposition  does  more  injustice  to  the 
Established  Church  than  all  the  objections  and  attacks 
of  its  opponents.  English  and  American  history  alike 
demonstrate  the  danger  of  making  too  close  an  alli 
ance  between  religion  and  the  civil  power.3''  There 
have  been  times  when  the  union  of  Church  and  State 
gave  increased  power  to  the  State,  but  this  was  always 
a  disadvantage  to  the  nation.  The  Church  was  on  the 
side  of  despotism  and  intolerance.  Mr.  Erskine  May 

30  See  Mr.  T.  Erskiue  May's  '  Constitutional  History,'  chapter  xii 


.  IX.  ELECTING    PREACHERS.  205 


describes  the  result  when  lie  speaks  of  Elizabeth's 
time:  "The  union  of  ecclesiastical  supremacy  with 
prerogatives  already  excessive,  dangerously  enlarged 
the  power  of  the  Crown  over  the  civil  and  religious 
liberties  of  the  people."  What  the  alliance  of  Church 
and  State  did  in  America  we  have  already  seen  in 
this  chapter. 

The  objection  that,  if  a  congregation  elects  a  pastor, 
the  minority  will  derive  no  profit  from  his  preaching, 
because  they  were  opposed  to  him,  would  be  too 
puerile  to  answer  except  that  it  is  so  gravely  made 
by  one  who  enjoys  a  high  authority.  The  minority 
merely  preferred  another  man.  Very  likely  it  would 
turn  out  that  they  were  better  satisfied  with  the  one 
actually  elected.  They  supported  their  candidate 
because  they  knew  him,  but  his  competitor  they 
may  not  have  known.  Besides,  says  Lord  Brougham, 
the  people  "  are  little  to  be  trusted  with  a  discretion 
upon  religious  subjects."  He  seems  to  think  that  a 
congregation  would  change  its  religious  faith  and 
doctrine  as  often  as  it  changed  its  pastor.  The  choice 
of  a  minister  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter. 
The  doctrines  are  defined  and  accepted  —  the 
question  is  merely  which  of  two  men  is  most  fitting 
to  preach  them  ?  In  Nonconformist  sects  in  England, 
that  question  is  decided  by  election  without  producing 
any  of  the  violent  consequences  which  Lord  Brougham 
appeal's  to  apprehend.  It  is  the  same  in  America. 
The  pastor  is  chosen,  and  the  defeated  minority 
would  no  more  think  of  rising  in  insubordination 


206  THE    VOLUNTARY    PRINCIPLE    IN    RELIGION.          CHAP.  IX. 

than  they  would  of  disobeying  the  laws  of  the  land, 
because  a  President  whom  they  did  not  vote  for 
happened  to  be  the  present  Executive. 

The  voluntary  system  in  America  works  well  for 
the  people,  but  ill,  in  many  cases,  for  the  preacher. 
Religion  itself  does  not  suffer  by  being  placed  above 
the  influence  of  State  support  and  patronage.  The 
State  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  the  government 
of  any  religious  body,  it  gives  offence  to  none,  and 
the  adherents  of  each  sect  take  a  natural  pride  in 
doing  all  in  their  power  to  add  to  its  prosperity. 


Ottr.X.  POPULAli    EDUCATION.  207 


CHAPTER  X. 

POPULAR   EDUCATION.1 

EVEN  Americans  who  deny  that  there  are  any  dangers 
in  intrusting  the  preponderance  of  power  to  the 
bulk  of  the  people,  will  readily  admit  that  the  only 
safeguard  against  the  growth  of  future  danger  consists 
in  the  universal  spread  of  education.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  expediency  with  them  whether  they  shall 
educate  their  poor  or  not.  It  is  a  matter  of  necessity. 
They  must  do  it,  or  submit  to  the  evils  attending 
a  rule  of  men  intensely  ignorant  of  the  questions 
they  are  called  upon  to  decide.  The  suffrage  is  open 
to  all,  with  restrictions  in  some  States  which  are 
merely  nominal.  If  men  are  to  govern,  they  ought 
at  least  to  be  in  a  position  to  make  themselves 
moderately  acquainted  with  the  course  of  current 
events.  But  the  poor  are  not  always  willing  to  send 
their  children  to  school ;  they  think  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  their  children  to  help  to  earn  their  bread, 
and  therefore  the  system  of  compulsory  education  is 
recommending  itself  strongly  to  the  American  people. 


1  This    chapter    is  partly  reprinted,   by  permission,    from    the 
author's  letters  to  the  '  Times.'  published  6th  and  llth  July,  18G7. 


208  POPULAR   EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

They  believe  that  they  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
the  exercise  of  intelligent  and  educated  opinion, 
and  they  spare  no  pains  to  make  provision  for  the 
education  of  all  their  citizens.  After  they  have 
done  all  that  lies  within  their  power,  they  have  only 
partially  accomplished  their  wishes,  but  they  have  at 
least  tried  to  guard  against  the  shame  of  being  prac 
tically  ruled  by  men  who  cannot  sign  their  own 
names,  or  read  a  line  of  the  Constitution. 

The  duty  of  providing  the  means  of  education  is 
supposed  to  fall  naturally  upon  the  States.  So  far 
as  this  matter  is  concerned,  the  State  considers  itself 
the  head  of  the  family,  and  sustains  the  cost  of 
educating  those  who  look  up  to  it  for  protection. 
The  Federal  Government  has  from  time  to  time 
allotted  valuable  grants  of  land,  nominally  as  loans, 
among  the  States  for  the  establishment  or  assist 
ance  of  school  funds,  and  a  certain  proportion  of 
land  is  always  set  aside  for  the  same  purpose  in  new 
States.2  The  charge  of  the  schools  is  afterwards 
always  borne  by  each  State  for  itself,  and  Congress 
will  probably  never  be  able  again  to  lend  that  liberal 
assistance  which  it  was  always  ready  to  do  before 
the  responsibilities  of  a  vast  national  debt  lay  upon 
it.  The  tax  for  educational  purposes  exclusively  is 
now  very  high  in  many  States — in  New  York  it 
amounts  to  5J  per  cent,  on  the  total  assessed  income, 


'-'  See  for  a  list  of  the  Enactments  of  Congress  for  grants  for 
educational  purposes,  Kent  s  'Commentary,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  200-201, 
note.  Part  IV.  Left.  xxix. 


EDUCATION    IN    MASSACHUSETTS.  209 


and  in  Boston  to  about  half  that  amount.  The 
people  pay  it  without  murmuring,  partly  because 
they  are  proud  of  the  reputation  which  their  country 
has  gained  abroad  for  educating  its  poor,  partly  be 
cause  they  perceive  that  their  interests  and  their 
duty  alike  call  for  the  expenditure. 

Massachusetts  has  long  held  the  foremost  place 
in  exertions  for  the  cause  of  education.  But  the 
Western  States  are  pressing  her  hard  in  the  race, 
and  it  is  generally  confessed  that  the  University  of 
Michigan  deserves  to  rank  first  in  the  country  for 
the  useful  and  practical  character  of  the  training  it 
affords  —  a  training  held  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  to 
the  growth  of  a  Republican  country.  Chicago  has 
made  immense  efforts  ;  and  these  young  cities  and 
towns  of  the  West  seem  determined  to  outstrip 
their  predecessors  in  the  work  of  affording  instruc 
tion  to  the  children  of  all  classes,  free  of  expense. 
Yet  to  Massachusetts  will  always  belong  the  honour 
of  having  been  the  originator  of  this  undertaking.  She 
voluntarily  made  the  necessary  sacrifices,  and  placed 
upon  her  own  shoulders  the  inevitable  burdens  of 
the  task.  There  never  has  been  a  time  when  she 
was  not  ready  to  acknowledge  and  meet  these  ob 
ligations.  In  the  earliest  days  of  the  Commonwealth 
the  colonists  made  careful  provision  for  the  education 
of  the  poor.  In  1647  they  put  into  force  a  definite 
plan  of  instruction.  They  ordered  that  every  town 
ship  numbering  fifty  householders  should  appoint 
one  of  its  number  to  teach  children,  at  the  expense 

p 


210  POPTJLAB    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

of  their  parents  or  masters ;  and  when  the  township 
increased  to  a  hundred  households,  it  was  required 
to  set  up  a  grammar  school,  or  pay  a  fine  of  five 
shillings  "  to  ye  next  schoole  till  they  shall  perforrne 
this  order."  From  time  to  time  these  regulations 
were  enlarged,  until  they  embraced  provisions  for  the 
support  of  schools  and  teachers  by  all  the  townships. 
Wherever  the  New  Englander  went  to  settle,  he 
carried  with  him  the  law  that  out  of  63  equal  por 
tions  into  which  the  chosen  territory  should  be  di 
vided,  "  the  first  should  be  for  the  minister,  the 
second  for  the  ministry,  and  the  third  for  the  school." 
Thus,  as  one  of  the  School  Committees  of  recent  years 
states,  "  the  school  house  was  made  the  constant  com 
panion  of  the  meeting-house  wherever  these  hardy 
pioneers  levelled  the  forest  and  set  up  their  humble 
homestead." 

Not  until  the  year  1789  was  the  basis  of  the  pre 
sent  educational  system  laid.  This  was  very  soon 
after  Washington  was  made  the  first  President  of 
the  Republic,  and  while  the  community  was  still 
labouring,  in  poverty  and  great  toil,  through  the 
hardest  and  most  trying  part  of  its  existence.  It 
would  be  a  long  history  to  recount  the  details  of  all 
the  experiments  and  devices  which  were  tried  in 
order  to  accomplish  the  object  the  people  had  in 
view.  They  attempted  many  experiments,  and  found 
themselves  disappointed  in  not  a  few.  Even  to-day 
they  know  that  their  system  needs  great  improve 
ment.  But  much  has  been  done,  and  more  will  yet 


.HAT.1L  COMPULSORY    EDUCATION.  211 

be  done  without  stopping  to  count  the  cost.  The 
people  are  not  iinmoveably  attached  to  any  par 
ticular  theories,  and  when  they  are  convinced  that  a 
reform  is  necessary  they  will  adopt  it. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  the  present  system 
in  Massachusetts  is  that  the  authorities  must  make 
education  compulsory.  Children  are  forced  to  at 
tend  the  schools,  without  regard  to  the  wishes  of 
their  parents.  There  is  no  choice  left  either  to 
the  pupils  or  their  natural  guardians.  Officers  are 
appointed  to  go  about  the  streets  and  look  out  for 
idle  or  vagrant  children,  and  "  compel  them  to  come 
in."  They  carry  the  terrors  of  the  law  in  their  hands. 
Little  by  little  the  penal  measures  against  children 
who  will  not  go  to  school  have  been  made  more  for 
midable.  The  opposition  to  these  coercive  steps  at 
first  was  very  great.  As  a  superintendent  once  said 
to  me,  "  Our  people  had  to  be  brought  up  to  the 
idea.  They  thought  that  pressure  of  this  kind  was 
not  in  harmony  with  a  Kepublican  government."  I 
remember  that  on  one  of  the  mornings  when  I  visited 
the  schools  the  same  idea  struck  a  gentleman  who 
was  of  the  party.  He  was  attached  to  a  foreign 
mission,  and  seemed  startled  at  finding  laws  of  such 
a  character  carried  out  under  a  government  which 
asserts  itself  to  be  the  very  embodiment  of  liberty. 
"  This  method,"  he  said  to  me,  a  little  diffidently,  for 
he  was  new  to  the  country,  "  may  be  a  beneficial  one 
in  the  end  to  the  children,  but  it  is  not  freedom." 
I  could  not  forbear  telling  him  that  when  he  had  tni- 

p  2 


212  POPULAR   EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X 

veiled  further  and  seen  more,  he  would  dicsover  that 
it  was  possible  in  a  Kepublic  to  place  the  social  life 
of  the  people  under  rules  and  regulations,  and  to 
step  into  their  houses  and  dictate  what  they  should  or 
should  not  do,  and  generally  to  manage  their  affairs 
for  them,  to  an  extent  which  the  old  despotisms  of 
the  world  would  pause  before  they  attempted. 

The  compulsory  principle  is  thus  set  forth  by  the 
Superintendent  in  his  report  for  1862  : — "  To  secure 
universal  education  it  is  not  enough  to  provide 
schools  at  public  expense ;  care  must  be  taken  that 
all  children  are  taught  in  these  schools  or  elsewhere." 
In  the  report  of  the  School  Committee  for  1847,  it 
is  urged  that  unless  the  children  "are  made  inmates 
of  our  schools  many  of  them  will  become  inmates 
of  our  prisons,  and  it  is  vastly  more  economical  to 
educate  them  in  the  former  than  to  support  them 
in  the  latter."  Here  the  system  is  recommended  for 
its  economical  merit  alone ;  but  this  is  a  consideration 
which  has  had  the  least  weight  with  the  people,  in 
inducing  them  to  assent  to  the  recommendations 
made  by  the  school  committees. 

In  order  to  carry  out  the  compulsory  method,  a 
school  police  force,  as  it  may  be  called,  is  indispens 
able.  In  Boston  this  force  is  small  but  efficient. 
The  officers  arrest  children  who  have  never  been  to 
schools,  or  truants,  and  carry  them  before  a  magis 
trate,  who  sits  privately  as  a  school  commissioner, 
and  thus  the  disgrace  and  mischief  of  dragging  the 
juvenile  culprits  into  an  open  court-room  are  avoided. 


CHAP.  X.  THE    PRISON    FOR    TRUANTS.  213 

Should  the  child  refuse  to  attend  school,  or  run 
away  from  his  teachers  a  second  time,  he  is  sen 
tenced  to  two  years'  imprisonment  at  a  Reformatory, 
which  is  situated  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the 
harbour.  I  went  out  to  see  this  institution.  It 
seemed  to  be  conducted  with  care  and  attention, 
but  it  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  what  it  is  de 
signed  to  be — a  prison.  The  children — there  were 
several  hundreds  there  —  were  dressed  in  a  coarse 
uniform,  and  looked  like  other  delinquents  in  more 
disgraceful  places  of  punishment.  The  superin 
tendent  assured  me  that  the  severity  of  the  punish 
ment  "had  a  very  good  effect."  He  meant,  of 
course,  that  it  made  parents  afraid  to  refuse  to 
send  their  children  to  school,  for  otherwise  they 
would  lose  them  altogether,  under  circumstances 
not  usually  accounted  meritorious  or  agreeable,  for 
two  years. 

A  member  of  Parliament  in  addressing  his  con 
stituency  3  assured  them  that  the  law  of  compulsory 
education,  even  in  New  England, was  a  "dead  letter," 
and  no  one  knew  enough  of  the  facts  to  contradict 
him.4  It  is  thus  that  the  government  and  the  insti 
tutions  of  America  are  conveniently  adapted  to  the 
views  of  speculative  politicians.  One  of  the  truant- 
ofticers  gives  an  account  of  the  working  of  the  plan. 


3  Mr.  Forster,  at  Bradford,  Sept.  1867. 

4  No  fewer  than  seventy-seven  towns  and  cities  in  New  England 
uppointed  truant-officers  and  enforced  the  compulsory  system.     (See 
•Report  of  the  Bjnrd  of  Education  for  1866,'  p.  63.) 


214:  POPULAR   EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X 

He  says, — "  A  day  seldom  passes  in  which  I  do  not 
find  children  out  of  school.  These  I  send  or  take 
into  school,  hundreds  of  them  every  quarter."  This 
is  the  first  step.  Another  officer  describes  the  second 
step  in  the  following  manner : — 

"  In  cases  where  I  fail  to  check  the  habit  of  tru 
ancy  and  the  child  becomes  an  habitual  truant,  I 
make  a  complaint  before  one  of  the  justices  of  a 
police-court ;  and  a  warrant  is  granted  me,  made  re 
turnable  at  the  justice's  private  room  in  the  Court 
house  ;  I  arrest  the  child,  and  summon  the  teacher 
to  appear  at  the  time  and  place  named  in  the  war 
rant.  I  likewise  notify  the  parents  that  they  may 
be  present  and  be  heard.  If  the  child  is  found 
guilty  by  the  Court,  a  sentence  of  one  or  two  years 
in  the  House  of  Reformation  is  passed,  and  in  other 
instances  the  cases  are  continued  from  time  to  time 
in  order  that  the  truants  may  have  an  opportunity 
to  reform.  In  these  cases  they  give  surety  for  their 
appearance  at  the  time  specified  by  the  Court.  If 
they  are  sentenced,  I  take  them  directly  from  the 
Court  to  the  steamer  '  Henry  Morrison,'  and  leave 
them  in  charge  of  the  officer  of  the  boat,  who  delivers 
them  into  the  custody  of  the  officers  of  the  House 
of  Reformation  at  Deer  Island." 

One  of  these  scholastic  policemen — not  an  unim 
portant  officer  in  the  work  of  education — tells  us 
that  he  had  charge  of  1191  cases  during  a  single 
year  (1862),  recorded  the  names  of  321  truants,  and 
obtained  proof  of  2091  truancies.  This  was  the 


CHAP.  X.     EFFECTS  OF  THE  COMPULSORY  SYSTEM.       215 

record  of  one  district  only  in  the  city  of  Boston/' 
There  is  a  general  law  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
under  which  similar  proceedings  might  be  taken 
everywhere,  but  it  is  at  the  discretion  of  each  town 
whether  it  shall  be  put  in  force  or  not.  In  most 
communities  it  is  left  to  lie  idle,  principally  on 
account  of  the  expense  involved  in  its  rigorous  exe 
cution.  A  special  corps  of  inspectors  has  to  be  paid, 
and  a  separate  place  of  punishment  built,  before 
such  a  law  can  be  carried  into  effect.  That  education 
is  so  generally  diffused  in  Boston  need  not,  then,  be 
a  subject  of  astonishment. 

The  city  deserves  the  greatest  credit  for  the 
sacrifices  it  constantly  makes  to  support  its  schools, 
but  it  is  not  to  the  credit  of  the  poor  that  they  send 
their  children  to  them.  They  dare  not  send  them 
anywhere  else.  Prevent  parents  from  despatching 
their  boys  or  girls  to  work,  and  force  them  instead 
to  support  them  while  at  school,  and  the  first  and 
greatest  obstacle  to  the  education  of  the  very  poor — 
namely,  the  impossibility  of  securing  the  regular  at 
tendance  of  the  pupils — is  disposed  of  at  a  stroke.  The 
end  doubtless  justifies  the  means,  but  the  Boston  pro 
cess  scarcely  recommended  itself  formerly  to  nations 
which,  although  living  under  "  tyrannical  monarchies  " 
and  "  cruel  despotisms,"  were  accustomed  to  consider 
their  children  their  own,  and  their  homes  sacred. 

The  arrangement  of  the  schools  is  the  same  in 


6  According  to  the  Annual  Report  of  1866,  the  total  number  of 
truant  cases  in  ten  years  was  2741. 


216  POPULAR    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

essential  particulars  in  all  the  States,  but  it  is  seen 
to  the  greatest  advantage  in  Boston,  and  hence  I 
select  that  city  for  the  purpose  of  illustration.  There 
the  schools  are  divided  into  three  grades — the 
primary,  grammar,  and  high  schools.  Children  are 
admitted  to  the  primary  schools  upon  the  sole  con 
dition  that  they  present  a  certificate  of  vaccination, 
and  th  -reafter  there  is  no  fee  or  charge  required 
from  them.  They  are  taught  from  books  specially 
prepared  or  sanctioned  by  the  committees,  and  there 
is  an  inspector  appointed  whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that 
a  settled  plan  of  tuition  is  not  departed  from.  To 
the  teachers  there  is  left  no  liberty  of  judgment. 
They  suggest  nothing,  alter  nothing;  they  are  merely 
employed  to  keep  in  motion  certain  wheels  which 
are  turning  in  all  the  schools  in  the  same  direction 
at  the  same  hour.  The  buildings  are  laid  out  and 
erected  upon  one  design,  and  the  \\ork  which  goes 
on  inside  knows  no  variation.  No  doubt  it  is  un 
avoidable,  perhaps  it  is  desirable,  that  this  uniformity 
should  be  insisted  on ;  but  if  there  are  imper 
fections  in  the  general  method  the  universal  appli 
cation  of  it  must  be  productive  of  some  undesirable 
consequences.  It  is  the  boast  that  all  classes  may 
be  educated  together,  but  there  are  not  a  few  who 
allege  that  the  plan  does  not  work  so  well  as  it 
ought  to  work,  and  that  the  "  course "  is  better 
adapted  to  the  children  of  the  rich  than  the  childrt-n 
of  the  poor,  and  cannot  possibly  be  perfectly  adapted 
to  both.  Nevertheless,  all  may  be  benefited  by  the 


CHAP.  X.  THE    FRUITS    OF    THE    SYSTEM.  217 

system  to  the  extent  that  they  may  learn  to  read  and 
write,  and  work  common  sums  in  arithmetic.  And 
in  some  cases  the  children  of  the  very  poorest  parents 
may  be  found  at  the  head  of  the  school,  and  the  cir 
cumstance  would  happen  oftener,  but  that  the  toler 
ably  well-to-do  can  alone  afford  to  keep  their  sons  at 
school  during  the  period  required  to  complete  the 
studies  assigned  to  higher  grades.  At  the  age  of  five 
years  the  pupil  enters  the  primary  school,  where  he 
is  taught  the  alphabet,  and  the  first  rudiments  of 
knowledge,  advancing  one  grade  each  half-year. 
These  elementary  schools  appear  to  be  less  open  to 
objection  than  any  of  the  more  advanced.  Teaching 
the  alphabet  and  a  little  writing  and  arithmetic  give 
no  scope  for  the  introduction  of  crotchets,  or  the 
exercise  of  painful  ingenuity.  The  children  seem  to 
have  their  tasks  duly  measured  to  their  capacities,  and 
in  most  instances  they  make  remarkable  progress. 
They  are  not  overworked,  and  they  are  not  allowed 
to  take  their  lessons  home  with  them.  They  go  to 
school  in  school-hours  only.  The  teachers  are  chiefly 
women — there  being  attached  to  all  the  schools  in 
Boston  547  female  to  66  male  teachers.  From 
the  very  outset,  the  greatest  attention  is  paid  to  tlie 
physical  development  of  the  pupils.  At  intervals 
during  the  day  they  go  through  a  series  of  muscular 
and  vocal  exercises,  which  are  intended  at  once  to 
relieve  the  tedium  of  school-hours,  and  preserve  the 
health  of  the  scholars.  They  are  taught  to  throw 
out  their  arms,  to  draw  them  back  again  suddenly, 


'218  POPULAR    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

to  raise  them  aloft,  to  bend  them  back — accompany 
ing  each  motion  with  the  letter  of  a  word  they  are 
set  to  spell,  or  some  similar  exercise.  The  managers 
pride  themselves  much  on  this  muscular  tuition,  and 
the  pupils  (except  those  whose  physical  weakness 
renders  the  amusement  a  hardship)  seem  to  take 
delight  in  this  interruption  of  their  desk-work.  They 
are  also  required  to  practise  certain  eccentric  exercises 
for  strengthening  the  vocal  organs ;  and  this  portion 
of  the  system  is  carried  out  with  a  vigour  which  is 
more  confusing  than  instructive  to  the  visitor.  In 
the  first  schools  music  is  taught  by  a  simple  and  ex 
cellent  method — so  simple  that,  after  a  little  practice, 
a  boy  or  girl,  five  or  six  years  old,  is  able  to  teach 
all  the  others. 

After  three  years  of  this  elementary  training,  the 
pupil  is  supposed  to  be  ready  to  pass  to  the  grammar 
school,  where  he  is  required  to  apply  himself  to  severer 
studies.  The  advanced  schools  are  of  various  merit, 
but  the  teachers  are  generally  chosen  with  care  and 
discrimination.  Five  or  six  years  must  pass  before 
the  pupil  can  be  ready  for  the  last  stage,  the  high 
school,  and  there,  too,  he  must  remain  some  years 
before  he  is  turned  out  the  finished  product  of  New 
England  education. 

The  scheme  thus  sketched  forth  is  objected  to  on 
numerous  grounds.  The  education  given  is  not, 
it  is  contended,  of  a  sufficiently  practical  or  useful 
character.  "  Our  schools,"  says  an  American  writer, 
"  instead  of  discharging  their  advanced  pupils  fitted 


CHAP.  X.  DEFECTS    OF   THE    PLAN.  219 

for  embarking  in  the  practical  and  useful  careers 
of  life,  send  them  out  into  the  world  filled  with 
a  crowd  of  vague  ideas,  potent  discontents,  and 
restless  desires."  In  other  words,  the  writer  believes 
that  the  pupils  receive  an  education  not  only  above 
their  station,  but  one  which  unfits  them  for  it  and 
makes  them  miserable  in  it.  "  It  is  now  the  common 
complaint,"  he  says,  "that  our  youth  are  unwilling 
to  apprentice  themselves  to  the  industrious  arts. 
The  supply  of  skilled  workmen  in  almost  every 
branch  of  trade  is  daily  becoming  less ;  .  .  .  .  the 
sons  of  our  better  mechanics  are  all  aspiring  to 
become  merchants  or  professional  men."  But  this 
is  not  a  defect  of  any  educational  system  in  particu 
lar  ;  it  is  an  argument  which  could  be  urged  against 
education  itself,  although  with  great  impropriety  and 
shortsightedness.  To  educate  the  people  is  a  good 
work,  and,  if  it  leads  them  to  strive  to  rise  beyond 
their  station,  their  disappointment  or  their  success 
will  be  its  own  answer  to  their  ambition.  The  samo 
writer  proceeds  to  make  a  remark  respecting  the 
effect  of  the  common  school  education  upon  the 
national  character : — "  The  characteristic  of  our  Ame 
rican  community  is  a  liberal  diffusion  of  ideas  accom 
panied  with  a  very  little  accurate  knowledge,  of  which 
our  excessively  illogical  legislation  is  both  the  proof 
and  the  consequence."  It  will  be  observed  that  this, 
again,  is  a  very  different  picture  of  the  state  of 
society  in  America  from  that  which  is  constantly 
drawn  by  a  section  of  politicians  in  England. 


220  POPULAK    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

It  is  complained,  moreover,  by  the  Americans 
themselves,  that  t-he  effect  of  the  present  educational 
system  is  to  benefit  the  rich  at  the  expense  of  the 
poor.  Wealthy  families  can  afford  to  let  their  chil 
dren  remain  long  enough  in  the  schools  to  pass 
through  all  the  grades ;  poor  people  cannot.  They 
are  obliged  to  take  their  children  away  before  they 
have  derived  much  benefit  from  the  schools.  The 
report  of  the  School  Committee  for  1866  practically 
admits  this  defect,  without  acknowledging  that  it  is 
an  evil : — "  Many  pupils  never  see  the  interior  of 
high  schools ;  others  who  enter  the  high  schools 
leave  them  before  they  have  concluded  the  proper 
course."  And  in  another  report  it  is  stated,  as  a 
subject  for  congratulation  and  a  proof  of  the  success 
of  the  schools,  that — u  The  proportion  of  the  children 
of  our  citizens  now  educated  in  them  is  as  twenty  to 
one  over  those  educated  at  private  expense.  Why 
should  it  not  become  a  matter  of  honest  ambition 
among  families  of  the  amplest  means  and  truest 
judgment,  to  have  their  sous  and  daughters  here 
educated ;  the  children  of  the  mechanic  and  the 
merchant  sitting  side  by  side,  pleasant  companions 
in  youth,  as  they  will  be  sympathizers  and  help 
mates  through  the  remainder  of  the  journey  of 
life?" 

This  beatific  picture  naturally  charms  a  people 
which  pays  no  honour  to  station  or  degree,  and 
which  is  accustomed  to  rejoice  in  its  contemptuous 
lisregard  of  eve  n  intellectual  distinctions ;  but  it 


CHAP.  X.  PRETENTIOUSNESS    OF    THE    SYSTEM.  221 

misses  the  real  point  of  the  objection.  The  charge 
is  that  the  course  is  intended  for  the  rich,  and 
is  practically  beyond  the  reach  of  the  poor.  To 
amend  this  fault,  greater  care  should  be  bestowed 
upon  the  first  three  years  of  tuition.  The  course 
is  both  ambitious  and  elaborate,  but  it  is  also 
too  pretentious  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  ends  in 
view.  It  is  too  extensive  and  too  difficult  for 
popular  education.  This  pretentiousness  exhibits 
itself  in  various  ways  in  the  work  of  every  class — 
notably,  as  it  often  seemed  to  me,  in  the  way  the 
pupils  are  taught  to  read.  They  declaim  with  an 
artificial  inflection,  tone,  and  manner,  not  ill  adapted 
to  the  exercises  prepared  for  them  in  the  books, 
which  largely  consist  of  ornate  speeches  or  poems, 
but  totally  incompatible  with  the  ordinary  sense  of 
pleasure  derived  from  hearing  a  book  well  read.  I 
heard  several  young  ladies  recite  poems  or  speeches ; 
and  although  it  may  have  been  a  very  grand  and 
powerful  style  which  they  adopted,  especially  if 
they  were  designed  for  a  public  career,  it  seemed 
to  my  ear  very  stilted,  absurd,  and  even  distressing. 
Nothing  can  be  more  objectionable  than  to  hear 
young  girls  or  boys  mouthing  and  ranting  like 
strolling  players  in  a  barn.  As  I  went  up  the  stairs 
of  the  Girls'  Normal  School  one  day,  and  heard 
the  pupils  reading  together,  I  could  not  but  think 
how  much  those  of  them  who  were  born  with 
common  sense  and  good  taste  would  censure  their 
injudicious  preceptors  in  years  to  come.  "  We  have 


222  POPULAK   EDUCATION —  CHAP  X. 

done  away  with  the  regular  school  drawl  and  drone," 
I  was  told;  but  this  very  harmless  defect  was  not 
improved  by  the  vice  which  was  substituted  in  its 
place.6 

During  the  past  twelve  years  the  authorities  have 
raised  by  taxation,  and  spent  in  educational  purposes, 
nearly  7,000,000  dollars.  They  have  now  under 
their  control  280  schools,  in  which  the  average 
number  of  pupils  iu  1866  was  27,723.  The  expenses 
of  the  schools  for  that  one  year  amounted  to  nearly 
800,000  dollars,  or  an  average  cost  per  scholar  of 
20'77  dollars.  The  pay  of  the  teachers  is  as  low 
as  it  can  well  be,  averaging  less  than  55  dollars  a 
month  for  males,  and  less  than  22  dollars  for  females. 
The  frequent  complaints  of  the  inadequacy  of  this 
remuneration  are,  perhaps,  the  best  founded  of  all 
those  which  are  brought  against  the  Massachusetts 


6  The  school-books  give  directions  for  "  reading  with  taste,"  which 
are  well  calculated  to  distract  the  pupil,  or  ruin  any  natural  taste  he 
or  she  may  have.  They  are  told  when  to  use  a  "  slide,"  and  passages 
are  printed  for  their  guidtnce,  so  that  they  cannot  make  a  mistake. 
The  following  is  an  example  : — 

Examples  of  the  "  subdued  or  pathetic"  kind  for  "soft  "  standard 
force. 

1.  "Little  Nell  was  dead.  No  sleep  so  beautiful  and  cairn,  so  free 
from  trace  of  pain,  so  fair  to  look  upon.  She  seemed  a  creature 
FRESH  from  the  hand  of  GOD,  and  waiting  for  the  breatJt  of  life;  not 
one  who  HAD  lived  and  suffered  DEATH.  Her  couch  was  dressed  with 
here  and  there  some  winter-berries  and  green  leaves,  gathered  in  a 
spot  she  had  bt  en  used  to  favor.  '  When  1  die,  put  near  me  some 
thing  that  has  loved  the  LIGHT,  and  had  the  SKY  above  it  always,.' 
Those  were  her  words.'' 

The  affected  and  unnatural  manner  in  which  the  pupils — especially 
the  girls— road  such  passages  as  these  defies  description. 


CHAK  X.  AN    EXPERIMENTAL    WOEK.  223 

system,  for  they  result  in  deterring  competent  persons 
from  joining  in  the  work  of  teaching,  and  fill  the 
schools  with  incapable  or  empirical  "  professors." 
Hence  it  is  that  the  quality  of  the  education  which 
a  boy  of  ordinary  capacities  receives  is  so  low  and 
bad.  The  sharp  boy  is  picked  out,  and  well  crammed, 
and  kept  for  exhibition  to  visitors.  The  rank  and 
file  get  through  their  daily  tasks,  or  leave  them 
undone,  and  there  is  no  inducement  for  the  teacher 
to  push  them  forward. 

It  is  obviously  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
American  people  that  they  should  not  be  misled  or 
deceived,  by  their  agents  or  servants,  in  this  great 
work  of  educating  the  young.  An  obligation  lies 
upon  them  to  employ  the  most  efficient  instruments 
they  can  find,  not  to  sacrifice  the  object  they  have 
in  view  for  the  sake  of  accommodating  the  caprices 
and  vagaries  of  a  few  men,  who  have  no  stronger 
claim  to  manage  public  instruction  than  that  they 
think  they  understand  the  subject  better  than  any 
one  else.  It  is  admitted  now  that  most  of  the  ideas 
originally  adopted  in  the  Massachusetts  schools  were 
wrong.  In  a  few  years'  time  the  successors  of  the 
present  committees,  trustees,  and  inspectors  may 
pronounce  the  same  judgment  on  the  experiments 
which  are  now  being  trie_d. 

The  work  of  education  in  the  United  States  is,  in 

fact,  entirely  an  experimental  one  down  to  this  very 

hour.      Mistakes  and   defects    in    it   are  constantly 

.  being  discovered  and  pointed  out,  even  by  those  who 


224  POPULAR    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

have  the  greatest  interest  in  being  blind  to  them. 
Old  details  of  the  plan  are  constantly  being  dis 
carded,  and  new  theories  attempted  in  their  place. 
The  national  anxiety  for  the  education  of  the  young, 
however,  always  remains,  and  it  is  this  which  gives 
the  true  direction  to  the  officers  who  are  placed  in 
charge  of  the  schools.  Education  in  a  democratic 
community  is  as  necessary  as  the  standing  army 
which  its  internal  differences  call  into  existence. 
Much  credit  is  doubtless  due  to  the  charitable  inten 
tions  of  the  community,  but  the  prevailing  motives 
for  the  sacrifices  they  make  are  those  of  protection 
for  themselves,  and  regard  for  the  destinies  of  their 
country.  It  is  of  little  consequence,  the  American 
believes,  how  many  people  you  admit  to  the  suf 
frage  so  long  as  you  can  rely  upon  their  all  voting 
intelligently,  upon  proper  reflection  and  information. 
To  enfranchise  large  numbers  of  persons  who  have 
not  proved  themselves  to  be  qualified  to  form 
rational  opinions  upon  public  affairs,  and  whose 
antecedents  are  a  presumptive  evidence  of  their 
unfitness  to  be  intrusted  with  a  share  of  political 
power,  is  an  act  which,  even  in  a  democracy,  ex 
cites  discontent  and  many  misgivings.  This  is 
proved  by  the  strong  and  general  opposition  which 
exists  in  the  United  States  to  negro  suffrage — an 
opposition  so  strong,  that  the  people  who  insist  upon 
its  acceptance  by  one  section  of  the  country  refuse 
altogether  to  hear  of  its  enforcement  in  their  own. 
It  was  required  that  the  South  should  let  negroes 


CIIAP  X.        EDUCATION    INDISPENSABLE    IN    DEMOCRACIES.        225 

vote,  not  because  any  one  believed  or  pretended  that 
the  negro  was  qualified  to  vote  intelligently;  that 
was  never  asserted  ;  but  because  the  concession  was 
regarded  as  a  just  compensation  to  the  race  for  the 
hardships  and  sufferings  inflicted  upon  them  in  pre 
vious  generations,  as  a  security  for  their  freedom, 
and  as  a  measure  of  retaliation  against  those  who 
endeavoured  to  divide  the  Republic — in  short,  upon 
a  variety  of  political  considerations  which  are  wholly 
independent  of  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  allow 
ing  uneducated  persons  to  take  a  direct  share  in 
the  government.  If  the  question  of  negro  suffrage 
had  been  decided  upon  the  latter  basis  alone,  the 
whole  voice  of  the  country  would  have  been  raised 
against  it.  Expediency,  political  conceptions  of  justice, 
party  spirit,  were  the  motives,  and  the  only  motives, 
which  led  the  country  to  sustain  it. 

"  The  people  must  be  educated  before  they  can 
safely  be  intrusted  with  political  power,"  is,  then, 
a  ruling  maxim  of  every  American  who  has  a  true 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  his  own  government, 
or  a  just  appreciation  of  others.  During  the  poli 
tical  contests  which  followed  upon  the  termination  of 
the  war,  the  most  intensely  radical  section  of  New 
Englanders  were  exceedingly  solicitous  respecting 
the  education  of  former  slaves.  They  knew  per 
fectly  well  that,  if  these  ignorant  blacks  were  allowed 
to  govern,  fresh  as  they  came  from  the  cotton-field 
and  the  sugar-brake,  great  and  wide  spread  must  be 
the  mischief  which  would  ensue.  Hence  the  demand 

Q 


226  POPULAR    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

arose  for  confiscation  of  Southern  lands,  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  funds  wherewith  to  found  and 
endow  schools.  Of  so  much  consequence  is  it  held 
to  be  that  all  persons  shall  possess  facilities  for  form 
ing  independent  opinions  upon  the  course  of  public 
affairs,  that  in  Massachusetts  every  man  must  be  able 
to  read  and  write  before  he  is  allowed  to  cast  his 
ballot.  Supposing  that  Massachusetts  citizens  held 
that  it  was  equally  necessary  in  the  South  to  adopt 
this  safeguard  and  protection,  it  would  follow  that 
the  negro  could  not  vote.  But  other  considerations 
determined  the  question,  and  the  instant  admission  to 
political  privileges  of  four  millions  of  scarcely  civilized 
voters,  was  thought  to  be  the  least  of  the  two  evils  be 
tween  which  the  nation  saw  itself  compelled  to  choose. 
The  voluntary  principle  in  religion  has  also  had 
its  influence  in  encouraging  free  education.  Each 
sect  was  not  only  obliged  to  build  its  own  churches 
and  support  its  own  priests  or  clergy,  but  also  to 
take  proper  measures  for  the  education  of  the  young. 
These  denominational  institutions  now  exist  all  over 
the  country,  and  greatly  limit  the  scope  of  the  purely 
secular  schools.  An  inspector  of  the  public  schools 
once  complained  to  me,  "  eveiy  denomination  thinks 
it  must  have  its  own  school,  and  hence  our  field  is 
sadly  reduced."  The  eighth  census  shows  us  that 
nearly  five  millions  of  persons  received  instruction  in 
the  various  States  in  the  year  I860  ;  but  this  return 
included  schools  of  all  descriptions.  The  school- 
house  always  springs  up,  as  if  in  a  night,  by  the  side 


CHAP.  X.  DENOMINATIONAL    SCHOOLS.  227 

of  a  church.  In  a  now  settlement  the  one  is  never 
considered  complete  without  the  other.  They  are 
nourished  with  an  equal  hand,  and  thrive  commen- 
surately  with  the  growth  of  the  community.  The 
poorest  cheerfully  give  of  their  slender  substance  to 
protect  the  welfare  of  their  sect,  which  to  their 
minds  is  advancing  the  great  cause  of  religion,  and 
to  provide  means  for  the  instruction  of  the  young. 
The  secular  principle  in  education  is  indispensable, 
where  the  chief  object  aimed  at  is  to  entice  parents 
of  all  shades  of  religious  opinions  to  send  their 
children  to  school.  It  is,  therefore,  an  essential 
and  not  an  optional  part  of  the  educational  system 
in  America.  Indeed,  the  managers  of  these  institu 
tions  sometimes  strive  too  hard,  and  sacrifice  too 
much,  to  make  their  establishments  popular  with 
all.  They  offend  many  "by  their  over  anxiety  to 
keep  religion  outside  in  the  street,  and  to  "con 
ciliate"  certain  sects.  When  one  of  the  schools  in 
Boston  was  opened,  the  usual  devotional  exercises 
were  abridged,  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible  alto 
gether  omitted,  because  the  building  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  Koman  Catholic  population,  and  several 
priests  had  been  invited  to  attend.  This  pleased  the 
Catholics  very  much,  it  was  said,  and  probably  with 
truth  ;  but  Massachusetts  has  always  been  a  Pro 
testant  community,  and  it  is  possible  to  avoid  giving 
offence  to  Roman  Catholics  without  tricking  out  the 
schools  in  false  colours  and  disguises  to  accommodate 
them  to  their  dogrpas. 

Q  2 


228  POPULAR    EDUCATION.  CHAP.  X. 

If  all  the  appliances  for  education  in  America  were 
excellent  of  their  kind,  the  children  of  Americans 
ought  to  be  the  best  educated  in  the  world ;  but 
will  any  one  except  a  very  prejudiced  and  unin 
formed  observer  assert  that  they  are  so  ?  The  effects 
of  a  superficial  and  desultory  training  are  palpable 
to  every  one  who  lives  in  the  country,  and  who  watches 
life  and  manners  with  impartial  eyes,  and  who  has 
listened  to  the  frequent  complaints  of  parents  that 
their  sons  know  nothing  thoroughly.  "  They  skim 
over  the  surface  of  things,"  it  will  often  be  said,  "  and 
will  not  work,  as  one  reads  and  hears  of  English 
boys  doing."  There  is  no  people  in  the  world  who 
read  so  much  and  know  so  little  as  the  Americans.  It 
will  be  understood  that  this  remark  applies  simply  to 
the  masses,  who  live  upon  a  mental  diet  furnished  by 
newspapers,  and  cheap  magazines,  and  tawdry  novels. 
The  learned  class  are  by  no  means  few  in  number, 
and  it  is  yearly  strengthened  by  the  sound  and 
efficient  work  done  in  the  excellent  Universities  of 
Yale  and  Harvard.  There,  some  of  the  finest  intel 
lects  in  the  country  have  been  cultivated,  and  men 
of  distinguished  abilities  daily  conduct  the  studies  of 
the  graduates.  It  is  not  the  fault  of  any  of  the  States 
within  the  Union  if  their  inhabitants  are  not  pos 
sessed  of  a  common  and  serviceable  education.  They 
appreciate  the  truth  of  the  words  pronounced  by  Mr. 
Robert  Lowe,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  "that  it 
is  absolutely  necessary  that  their  masters  should  be 
taught  their  letters."  While  England  is  intent  upon 


CHAP.  x.  ENGLAND'S  DUTY.  229 

imitating  the  elective  franchise  of  the  United  States, 
she  must  also  borrow  from  the  Americans  their  ideas 
upon  education,  and  make  schools  at  least  as  nume 
rous  as  polling-booths,  or  she  may  find  that  she  has 
imported  from  another  nation  a  recognised  element 
of  disturbance,  without  also  providing  herself  with  the 
only  security  which  it  was  within  her  power  to  obtain 


CAPITAL   AND    LABOUR.  CHAP.  XI. 


CHAPTEE  XL 

CAPITAL   AND    LABOUR. — RELATIONS   BETWEEN 
EMPLOYER   AND    EMPLOYED. 

IT  is  sometimes  asserted  by  speakers  and  writers 
whose  claims  to  authority  justify  us  in  expecting  an 
average  degree  of  accuracy  in  their  statements,  that 
there  is  no  dissatisfaction  among  the  working  classes 
of  America,  that  every  man  is  sure  of  being  properly 
paid  for  his  labour,  that  class  distinctions  do  not 
exist,  and  that  combinations  of  labour  against  capital, 
or  of  capital  against  labour,  are  impossible.  Trades' 
Unions,  we  are  told,  are  unknown,  and  "  such  a  com 
bination  of  class  against  class  as  that  with  which  we 
are  afflicted  [in  England]  would  be  an  absurdity, 
when  all  alike  are  in  possession  of  political  power, 
and  at  liberty  to  promote  and  defend  their  own 
interests  by  constitutional  means." l 

These  representations  are  probably  not  intended  to 
convey  the  truth  about  America,  so  much  as  to  serve 

1  See  an  essay  by  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith,  in  '  Essays  on  Reform  ' 
(Lond.  1867).  Compare  his  confident  statements  with  the  following 
from  a  high  American  and  Radical  authority,  the  '  North  American 
Review,'  for  July,  1867  (p.  178,  :— "Trades'  Unions  have,  in  many 
of  the  great  branches  of  industry  here,  been  brought  to  as  high  a 
degree  of  <  fficieney  as  in  Europe." 


CHAP.  XI  CLASS    CONTENTIONS    IN    AMERICA.  231 

certain  party  purposes  in  England.  On  no  other 
ground  can  their  extraordinary  incorrectness  be  ex 
plained.  In  America  there  is  a  wealthy  class,  and 
there  is  also  a  poor  and  a  discontented  class.  The  rich 
are  sometimes  selfish,  and  the  privations  of  the  poor 
are  embittered  by  the  sense  of  injustice.  These  cir 
cumstances  are  even  now  common  in  the  United 
States,  and  as  the  manufacturing  population  in 
creases  they  will  become  still  more  common.  The 
labour  question  is  a  subject  of  trouble  and  anxiety 
to  thoughtful  men  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is 
complicated  by  the  fact  that  in  the  political  govern 
ment  economic  laws  are  neglected  or  misunderstood. 
One  cause  of  this,  as  a  recent  American  writer  justly 
points  out,  "  has  been  the  wonderful  material  pros 
perity  of  the  country The  abundance  of  land 

rendered  the  existence  of  a  poor  labouring  class  al 
most  impossible,  until  the  great  factories  came  into 
existence."2  No  honest  and  well-informed  writer 
would  attempt  to  deny  that  the  "  labour  question " 
in  the  United  States  is  one  of  the  most  serious  before 
the  country.  But  it  cannot  become  a  great  social 
canker  while  the  discontented  poor  can  be  silenced 
by  the  advice,  "  Go  out  West,"  where  employment 
of  some  sort  can  be  obtained  by  men  able  and 
willing  to  work  hard. 

Perfect  extinction  of  class  feeling  may  possibly  be 
an  unattainable  blessing,  but  certain  it  is  that  the 


8  •  The  Nation,'  Sept.  26th,  1867. 


232  CAPITAL    AND    LABOUR.  CHAP.  XL 

time-worn  troubles  and  dissensions  are  revived  in 
America,  with  this  difference,  that  there  the  labouring 
classes  have  the  balance  of  political  power  on  their  side. 
Trades'  Unions,  strikes,  outrages  upon  employers  or 
independent  workmen,  are  nowhere  more  common 
than  in  the  United  States,  and  the  working  classes  are 
sometimes  inaccessible  to  a  sense  of  justice  and  fail- 
dealing,  through  the  conviction  that  the  controlling 
influence  in  the  machinery  of  government  rests  with 
them.  The  workmen,  whenever  they  determine  upon 
a  strike,  or  disagreee  with  their  employers  from  any 
cause,  almost  invariably  find  the  public  men  and  the 
press  upon  their  side,  or  at  least  no  more  opposed  to 
them  than  is  implied  in  the  proffering  of  some  very 
good  advice.  The  reason  is  plain.  The  employers  do 
not  form  a  class  worth  taking  any  trouble  to  conci 
liate,  for  when  they  are  counted  by  heads  they  are  of 
less  importance  than  the  employed ;  and  they  have 
no  political  power  or  interest  except  that  which,  in 
rare  and  exceptional  cases,  they  derive  from  the  sup 
port  of  the  labouring  class.  The  employer  is  powerful 
only  when  the  employed  act  in  unison  with  him.  If  he 
is  opposed  to  them  he  can  do  nothing.  For  example, 
certain  wealthy  manufacturers  have  contrived  by 
various  means  to  convince  the  working  classes  that  a 
Protectionist  policy  is  indispensable  to  their  welfare. 
"  Unless  your  work  is  protected,"  they  tell  them,  "  it 
will  be  impossible  to  pay  you  good  wages,  or  even  to 
give  you  regular  employment,  because  other  countries 
will  step  in  with  their  goods,  and  we  cannot  stand 


CHAP.  XI.  rr.O-KCTIVE    FALLACIES.  233 

against  their  competition.  Therefore  you  must  insist 
upon  prohibitory  duties  for  foreign  merchandise,  and 
by  that  means  you  will  be  able  to  keep  what  is  your 
own."  With  the  exception  of  the  Democratic  party 
—of  course  an  important  exception — all  classes  in 
the  country  are  deceived  by  these  fallacies,  long  ago 
exploded  in  England.  The  workmen  believe  in  them, 
and  support  a  protective  policy,  and  thus  the  manu 
facturers  are  able  to  pass  tariff  bills  which  are  the 
wonder  of  the  world,  and  which  fill  their  own  pockets 
at  the  expense  of  the  general  community. 

But  let  true  ideas  concerning  political  economy 
once  reach  the  working  classes — an  end  difficult  to 
accomplish,  because  their  reading  ii  chiefly  confined 
to  the  newspapers  of  their  own  party,  where  they 
only  see  reproduced  with  eternal  sameness  the  old 
objections  to  free  trade — and  there  would  be  no 
power  left  strong  enough  to  keep  a  Protectionist 
policy  in  operation.  The  employers  could  not  do 
it,  for  they  have  no  more  weight  in  the  country  than 
an  equal  number  of  their  workpeople.  They  have 
the  means  of  buying  support,  it  is  true,  and  in  all 
alarming  dangers  which  menace  them  they  know 
how  to  employ  this  resource  with  success.  The  lob 
bies  of  the  State  Legislatures  and  of  Congress  are 
often  the  scenes  where  the  real  battle  between  labour 
and  capital  is  fought.3  But  this  refuge  cannot  be 


3  Sufficient  has  been  said  in  previous  chapters  with  reference  to 
the  corruption  existing  in  the  country,  but  an  extract  from  a  memorial 
presented  hy  the  "  Citizens'  Association  "  of  New  York,  and  signed  by 


234  CAPITAL    AND    LABOUR.  CHAP.  XI. 

available  in  every  emergency.  When  combinations 
of  Trades'  Unions  demand  an  advance  of  wages  which 
the  masters  will  not  concede,  they  strike,  and  the  vic 
tory  depends,  as  it  does  everywhere  else,  upon  the 
relative  powers  of  endurance  of  each  side.  But  in 
America  the  men  on  strike  find  themselves  the  object 
of  the  sympathy  and  encouragement  of  the  politi 
cians.  In  the  spring  of  1867  there  was  a  clamour  in 
many  of  the  Northern  States  for  a  law  to  render 
eight  hours'  work  a  legal  day.  In  the  West  it  was 
vigorously  resisted  by  the  masters,  and  as  they  spared 
no  efforts  to  introduce  fresh  hands  from  abroad,  they 
gained  the  day.  But  in  New  York  the  Legislature 
gave  way  to  the  pressure  without  a  scruple,  and  passed 
the  eight  hours'  law.  No  one  could  say  that  this  was  a 
just  or  a  fair  measure,  ijpr  why  should  an  employer 
be  compelled  to  pay  the  same  price  for  eight  hours' 
work  which  he  formerly  paid  for  ten,  at  the  very 
time  when  men  are  willing  to  work  ten  hours,  but 
are  forbidden  by  the  arbitrary  rules  of  Trades' 


Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  a  well-known  inhabitant  of  that  city,  may  be 
given  here  : — 

"It  is  well  known  to  every  intelligent  man  conversant  with 
public  affairs,  that  corruption  has  become  organized  throughout  our 
State,  and  has  assumed  such  alarming  proportions  that  capital,  labour, 
and  the  industrial  and  commercial  classes  are  oppressed  to  a  degree 
unknown  even  in  countries  where  the  most  absolute  and  tyrannical 
form  of  government  prevails. 

"  The  demoralizing  influences  of  corruption  are  rapidly  penetrating 
social  life,  and  tampering  with  the  Press,  the  Pulpit,  and  with  the 
Judge  upon  the  bench,  poisoning  justice  at  the  fountain-head,  sap 
ping  morals,  religion,  and  education." 

This  memorial  is  dated  Sept.  13th,  1867. 


Our.  XI.  STRIKES    AND    DISCONTENT.  235 

Unions?  Of  course  the  masters  protected  them 
selves  by  paying  their  men  by  the  hour  instead  of 
the  day ;  no  law  could  prevent  that.  In  April,  1 867, 
there  were  no  fewer  than  twenty  trades  on  strike  in 
the  States  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsyl 
vania,,  and  the  men  were  all  paid  weekly  contribu 
tions  from  Trades'  Unions.  As  the  town  and  city 
populations  extend,  the  difficulties  between  labour 
and  capital  will  become  more  serious,  for  the  idea  of 
universal  equality  is  held  to  be  inconsistent  with  one 
man  dining  on  half  a  loaf,  while  another  rides  by  in 
his  carriage.  It  is  easy  to  convince  men  who  have 
the  balance  of  power  on  their  side  that  the  existence 
of  a  wealthy  class  is  a  great  social  wrong.  There 
can  be  no  greater  fallacy  than  to  assert  that  combi 
nations  of  class  against  class  are  impossible  in  Ame 
rica,  because  "  all  alike  -are  in  possession  of  political 
power,  and  are  at  liberty  to  promote  and  defend  their 
own  interests  by  constitutional  means."  All  are  not 
in  possession  of  political  power  alike.  The  great 
weight  of  power  falls  to  the  share  of  the  working 
classes,  and  American  employers  know  that  only  in 
mockery  or  in  ignorance  could  the  statement  be 
made  of  them  that  they  are  removed  from  the  fear 
of  injustice,  because  they  can  defend  their  interests 
by  "  constitutional  means."  They  are  outnumbered. 
The  labouring  classes  in  America  are  often  dissatisfied, 
but,  as  they  cannot  ascribe  their  wrongs  to  the  tyranny 
of  the  rich,  or  to  an  aristocratic  government,  and  as 
the  labour-market  is  more  at  their  command  than 


236  CAPITAL   AND   LABOTJB.  CHAP.  XL 

working  men  find  it  in  England,  their  discontent 
seldom  spreads  into  a  wide  agitation.  They  think 
they  are  underpaid,  as  working  men  do  in  England, 
but  they  cannot  allege  that  all  would  be  righted  if 
they  were  admitted  to  the  franchise.  The  bulk  of 
them  know  that  they  cannot  escape  from  the  neces 
sities  of  a  life  of  toil.  No  one  can  mount  to  power 
on  their  shoulders  by  magnifying  their  political 
grievances,  or  win  their  sympathies  by  telling  them 
that  a  vote  will  be  a  remedy  for  all  their  troubles, 
and  then  undertaking  to  procure  for  them  that  vote. 
A  variety  of  the  same  species  of  demagogue  finds, 
however,  ample  field  for  his  work.  He  goes  about 
inciting  the  employed  against  their  employers,  and 
that  golden  dream  of  the  idle  and  worthless,  a  "re 
distribution  of  property,"  is  now  and  then  held  out 
to  dazzle  them.  In  the  summer  of  1867,  no  less  an 
authority  than  the  President  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  a  leader  of  the  Republican  party,  made  a 
journey  westward,  in  the  course  of  which  he  de 
livered  several  speeches  upon  the  labour  question. 
He  distinctly  told  his  audiences  that  capital  had 
accumulated  too  much  in  a  few  hands,  that  the  day 
was  coming  when  that  arrangement  must  be  dis 
turbed,  that  Congress,  which  had  done  so  much  for 
the  slave,  could  not  leave  the  working  man  uncared 
for,  and  that  God  never  intended  a  man  to  labour  all 
his  life.4  In  every  form  of  society  there  are  thou- 

4  Mr.  Wade,  the  official  in  question,  never  repudiated  the  senti 
ments  conveyed  in  these  words,  although  his  friends,  when  they  saw 


CnAi-.Xl.  DANGBUS    BEFORE    AMERI 


- 

sands  of  persons  in  whose  ears  word&  li&e  tndee^would 

\    %<7  ~'^  ^?  f 

be  music.     Give  them  first  the  desire\i^/0Qgsess  i^eir. 

^V5>^         4  fa       1 
neighbour's  property,  and  then  the  po\ve£$a$l  how  •<1>J 

many  of  them  would  hesitate  to  take  it  becau^e4ii. 
did  not  belong  to  them  ?  The  security  against  the 
gigantic  wrong  suggested  by  the  President  of 
the  Senate  is  in  the  number  of  small  proprietors 
scattered  over  the  country  ;  but  the  surplus  popula 
tions  of  the  cities  are  fast  growing,  and  all  power  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  multitude.  Unfortunately  for 
mankind,  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  in  the  Ame 
rican  government  there  are  provisions  for  reconcil 
ing  all  interests  and  satisfying  all  desires  —  that  in 
the  United  States  one  class  never  can  lift  its  hand 
against  another  class,  because  all  are  equal  in  the 
government,  and  a  special  wrong  can  fall  upon  none. 
The  true  sentiment  of  the  working  classes  in 
America  may  be  judged  of  from  their  own  written 
statements  or  speeches.  In  Chicago,  in  the  early 
part  of  1867,  a  journal  was  established  by  some 
working  men  for  the  advocacy  of  their  rights.  In  a 
preliminary  manifesto  the  following  principles  were 
laid  down  :  —  "  Mankind  is  an  Universal  Brother 
hood."  "Association  is  the  first  principle  of  economy." 
*•  Union  is  strength  ;  isolation  is  weakness/'  "  There 

the  ill  effect  they  caused,  denied  that  he  had  said  wliat  was  attri 
buted  to  him.  But  the  editor  of  the  '  New  York  Times,'  a  gentle 
man  of  high  repute  and  character,  made  careful  inquiries,  and 
assuri-d  the  public  that  the  report  he  had  published  was  entirely 
accurate.  Moreover,  several  persons  present  at  the  meeting  testified 
to  the  reporter's  fidelity. 


238  CAPITAL    AND    LABOUR.  CRAP.  XI. 

are  no  rights  but  the  rights  of  Labour" b  At  a  meet 
ing  of  workmen  held  in  Chicago,6  a  member  of  Con 
gress  7  said  that  capital  and  labour  never  did  or  can 
unite,"  and  he  added-.— "  Capital  must  not  be  allowed  to 
be  centralized  in  the  hands  of  a  few."  These  declara 
tions  were  received  with  immense  applause,  and  the 
following  seemed  to  give  equal  satisfaction:— "If  the 
labouring  men  produce  the  wealth,  they  must  control 
it ;  and  if  all  the  working  men  agree  upon  this,  their 
success  is  certain."  A  General  of  the  army 8  told  the 
meeting  that  they  could  make  what  laws  they  pleased, 
and  therefore  they  need  not  long  be  oppressed.  The 
President  himself  sent  a  letter  to  the  men — who 
were  out  on  strike — in  which  he  assured  them  of  his 
sympathy  and  good  wishes.  Thus  petted  and  flat 
tered,  it  wrould  be  strange  if  the  working  classes 
always  preserved  a  calm  judgment,  or  were  always 
guided  by  a  sense  of  fairness. 

Not  only  are  strikes  frequent  in  America,  but  they 
are  attended  by  all  the  disgraceful  circumstances 
which  mark  the  worst  combinations  of  the  kind  in 
other  countries.  Still  to  refer  to  a  single  year, 
in  May,  1867,  there  were  several  incendiary  fires  in 
St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  after  "  mass  meetings  "  of  the 
working  classes.  In  the  eastern  district  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  a  mining  region,  the  men  killed  fifty  agents 


5  See  the  '  New  York  Tribune,'  of  March  and  April,  1867. 
8  In  May,  18G7.    An  account  of  it  may  be  found  in  all  the  leading 
American  papers  of  the  time. 

1  Mr.  Kuykendall  of  Illinois.  8  General  Wallace. 


I 

CHAP.  XL  OUTRAGES    OF    WORKMEN.  239 

or  miners  in  the  space  of  four  years.  "  When 
criminals  are  arrested,"  said  a  local  record,9  "no 
testimony  can  be  had.  The  case  was  related  of  a 
man  walking  out  with  his  wife.  He  was  shot  by  her 
side,  and,  although  as  many  as  fifty  persons  were 
standing  by,  no  proof  could  be  obtained."  It  is 
generally  said,  when  such  crimes  are  revealed,  that 
the  perpetrators  are  foreigners.  But  this  is  surely 
no  proof  that  the  perfection  of  government  is  found 
in  the  United  States.  It  only  shows  that,  whatever 
may  be  the  defects  of  the  English  form  of  govern 
ment,  it  is  not  to  them  that  the  discontent  of  the 
labouring  classes  can  be  traced,  since  that  class  is 
just  as  discontented  in  America  where  there  is  no 
thing  to  complain  of,  and  adopts  precisely  the  same 
method  of  making  its  discontent  known  and  felt. 
If  it  be  political  oppression  which  gives  rise  to  tho 
alleged  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  the  working  man  in 
England,  he  ought  to  be  relieved  from  them  directly 
he  takes  np  his  abode  in  a  land  where  there  is  no 
political  oppression,  except  such  as  his  own  class 
originates.  But  this  is  the  very  class,  according  to 
Americans,  which  commits  all  the  outrages,  and 
causes  all  the  disturbances,  in  their  country ;  and 
thus  they  afford  involuntary  proof  that  their  "  free 
institutions"  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  success  of 
the  government,  but  that  it  is  due  to  the  superfluity 
of  land,  and  the  immense  natural  resources  of  the 


4  New  York  Tribune,'  letter  dated,  "Pottsville,  April  14th,  1867.' 


i 

240  CAPITAL    AND    LABOUB.  CHAP.  XL 

Republic.  The  relations  between  capital  and  labour  . 
can  probably  never  be  better  dealt  with  than  when 
they  are  left  to  regulate  themselves,  without  the  in 
terference  of  the  Legislature.  One  side  or  other  is 
sure  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  mediator,"  if  he  is 
armed  with  the  power  of  enforcing  his  decision.  It 
may  be  said  with  truth  that  in  America  nothing  has 
yet  been  done  towards  settling  the  great  social 
problem  which  has  embarrassed  older  communities 
for  generations  past.  There  conditions  exist  which 
ought  to  ensure,  if  anything  could,  a  perfect  under 
standing  and  entire  harmony  between  employer  and 
employed — a  boundless  market,  land  to  be  had  al 
most  for  the  asking,  abundance  o  room  for  all. 
Yet  even  in  a  country  so  blessed  we  find  most  of  the 
melancholy  antagonisms  and  feuds  of  the  Old  World 
faithfully  reproduced.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  perfec 
tion  is  not  attained  in  a  land  where  neither  of  the 
advantages  just  enumerated  can  be  enjoyed,  where 
labour  and  capital  are  encumbered  by  a  thousand 
difficulties  which  cannot  be  experienced  across  the 
Atlantic  in  the  present  century?  A  large  pauper 
population  and  an  overburdened  market,  almost  every 
trade  so  crowded  with  competitors  that  a  low  rate  of 
wages  is  a  natural  consequence, — these  are  the  dis 
advantages  under  which  an  old  community  labours. 
Many  earnest  men  of  America  still  hope  to  satisfy 
the  expectations  of  the  emigrants  who  flock  to  their 
shores  from  all  parts  of  the  world  by  gradually  bring 
ing  into  general  custom  the  plan  of  co-operative 


CHAP.  XL  HOPES   OF    THE   PEOPLE.  241 

workshops  and  association.  Several  establish  me  nts 
based  on  this  principle  have  already  been  tried  in 
the  West.  In  New  York  the  experiment  has  failed. 
But  the  scheme  is  still  regarded  with  confidence,  and 
the  idea  of  the  "  progressive  "  party  is  that  there  shall 
be  no  more  hired  labourers  in  the  country,  but  that 
men  shall  work  for  a  share  of  profits  instead  of  for 
wages.10  These  aims  can  be  accomplished  in  the 
United  States,  if  anywhere.  Almost  any  experiment 
can  be  attempted  there  with  safety.  But  the  good  is 
all  to  be  achieved  in  the  future,  for  at  present  the 
working  man,  without  capital  to  assist  him,  is  scarcely 
any  better  off  in  America  than  he  is  in  England,  and 
a  skilled  workmen  is  not  often  so  well  off.  He  is 
taxed  as  heavily  as  in  England,  if  the  price  he  is 
compelled  to  pa}'  for  clothing  be  taken  into  account, 
and  his  wages  are  only  nominally  higher.  The 
dollar  in  these  days  is  not  more  than  the  equivalent 
of  the  English  shilling.  The  addition  of  that  modern 
specific  for  all  human  troubles,  the  "  vote,"  is  not 
always  sufficient  to  compensate  the  workman  for  the 
inconvenience  of  uprooting  his  old  associations,  and 
for  the  expense  of  settling  his  family  in  a  strange 
land. 

10  See  tho  '  North  American  Review,'  for  July,  1867. 


242  PROSPECTS   OF   THE    UNION.  CHAP.  XIL 


CHAPTER  XII. 


PROSPECTS   OF   THE   UNION. 

WE  have  seen  that  at  every  stage  in  the  history  of 
the  Union  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  have 
been  profoundly  dissatisfied  with  the  government, 
and  that  even  the  founders  of  the  Constitution 
seriously  questioned  its  stability.  In  three  States 
only  was  the  Constitution  adopted  unanimously,  and 
in  other  States  there  was  scarcely  a  sufficient  ma 
jority  to  carry  the  measure.1  The  Convention  in 
which  the  instrument  was  drawn  up  several  times 
nearly  separated  without  coming  to  any  agreement. 
Washington  admitted  that  the  contest  had  been  one, 
not  so  much  for  glory,  as  for  existence.  John  Quincy 
Adams2  spoke  of  the  Constitution  as  a  compact 
''extorted  from  the  grinding  necessity  of  a  reluctant 
nation."  It  had  no  sooner  been  ratified  than  it 
brought  into  existence  two  great  parties,  which  have 
ever  since,  under  various  names,  been  at  issue  con 
cerning  the  construction  of  its  fundamental  provi 
sions.  The  interests  of  the  States  were  incompa 
tible,  and  their  bitter  dissensions  have  deepened  with 

1  Story,  chapter  ii.  p.  191.  -  Sixtli  President. 


CKAF.XH.         EAV.LY    APPREHENSIONS   FOR    THE    UNION.  243 

each  successive  generation.  In  a  very  remarkable 
letter  from  Jefferson  to  the  ex-President  Martin  Van 
Buren,3  he  says — "  General  Washington  was  himself 
sincerely  a  friend  to  the  republican  principles  of  our 
Constitution.  His  faith,  perhaps,  in  its  duration 
might  not  have  been  as  confident  as  mine ;  but  he 
repeatedly  declared  to  me  that  he  was  determined 
it  should  have  a  lair  chance  of  success."  Hamilton, 
it  is  well  known,  thought  that  the  government  could 
not  last ;  and  men  like  Otis,  Hopkins,  John  Adams, 
and  Oouverneur  Morris — all  of  whom  had  an  import 
ant  share  in  defining  the  Constitution — fully  agreed 
with  him.  Two  years  before  Hamilton's  death — 
namely,  in  1802 — he  wrote  a  letter  to  Gouverneur 
Morris,  in  which  he  spoke  of  himself  as  "  still  labour 
ing  to  prop  the  frail  and  worthless  fabric."4  By 
more  than  one  great  American  it  has  been  held 
that  the  founders  of  the  Constitution  intended  to 
provide  the  means  for  bringing  the  government  to 
a  peaceable  end,  by  the  failure  of  choice  of  electors.5 
Others  anticipated  dismemberment  from  the  increas 
ing  area  of  the  Union,  and  from  the  impossibility 
of  establishing  a  complete  identity  of  feeling  or  in 
terests.6  With  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  country, 


3  Written   29th  June,   1824,  and  first  published  in  1867.     See 
•  Political  Parties,'  by  Martin  Van  Buren  (New  York,  1867).    Ap 
pendix,  p.  434. 

4  Ibid.  p.  81.  5  Ibid.  p.  48,  and  suprc,  p.  58. 

6  "  This  country,  fully  peopled  or  half-peopled,  is  large  enough  to 
make  five  or  six  great  nations,  each  with  its  system  of  central  and 
local  government.  The  time  will  come  when  it  will  be  so  divided, 

R   2 


244  PROSPECTS  or  THE  UNION.  CHAP,  xn 

unforeseen  sources  of  danger  have  arisen.  That  new 
and  vast  community  which  is  growing  up  on  the 
Pacific  coast  may  not  always  be  contented  to  endure 
the  restraints  of  the  Federal  bond,  and  may  insist  on 
casting  it  off.  Except  in  their  attachment  to  the 
national  idea,  the  Union  has  little  hold  upon  the  Pacific 
States.  Indeed,  the  most  potent  cause  of  disaffec 
tion,  and  the  one  which  is  ever  at  work,  is  the  want 
of  strong  political  sympathy  between  the  people 
North  and  South,  East  and  West.  The  determina 
tion  of  the  North  to  extinguish  the  individualism 
of  the  South,  and  of  the  East  to  perpetuate  a  policy 
of  prohibitory  tariffs  and  protection,  so  fatal  to  the 
interests  of  the  West,  are  far  from  being  the  only 
instances  of  a  lack  of  a  general  regard  for  the 
general  welfare.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  disproof 
of  Calhoun's  arguments  for  State  rights,  the  ac 
curacy  of  his  remarks  with  regard  to  the  position  of 
rival  sections  has  never  been  disputed.  "The  equi 
librium  between  the  two  sections,"  he  writes,  "  has 
been  permanently  destroyed.  The  Northern  section 
in  consequence  will  ever  concentrate  within  itself  the 
two  majorities  of  which  the  government  is  composed  ; 
and  should  the  Southern  be  excluded  from  all  Ter 
ritories  now  acquired,  or  to  be  hereafter  acquired,  it 
will  soon  have  so  decided  a  preponderance  in  the 
government  and  the  Union  as  to  be  able  to  mould 
the  Constitution  to  its  pleasure There  can 

with  or  without  such  a  system  for  each  of  its  parts." — Fisher's 
*  Trial  of  the  Constitution,'  p.  160. 


CHAP.  XII.        GLOOMY   FBEDICTIONS   OB    AMERICANS.  245 

be  no  safety  for  the  weaker  section.  It  places  in 
the  hands  of  the  stronger  and  hostile  section  the 
power  to  crush  her  and  her  institutions,  and  leaves 
her  no  alternative  but  to  resist,  or  sink  down  into 
a  colonial  condition." 7  Time  has  fully  accomplished 
these  predictions.  The  South  is  not  only  excluded 
from  Territories,  but  her  independent  existence  has 
been  destroyed.  There  remain  only  ten  or  eleven 
millions  of  white  citizens  living  under  military  sur 
veillance  in  a  great  camp. 

The  indignation  which  Americans  are  accustomed 
to  profess  concerning  the  gloomy  prophecies  of 
European  observers  during  the  war  of  1861—6."),  is 
a  strange  example  of  national  forgetfulness  and  in 
consistency.  The  separation  of  the  States  is  the  end 
which  a  large  number  of  their  greatest  statesmen 
and  publicists  have  constantly  foretold.  At  least  one 
half  of  the  American  people  themselves  either  feared 
or  believed  that  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  was  ren 
dered  inevitable  by  the  revolt  of  the  South.  Fully 
as  large  a  proportion  of  the  public  journals  in  America 
predicted  that  result  as  could  be  found  in  England, 
at  any  time  during  the  war.  It  was  not  alone  the 
Democratic  press  which  uttered  these  prognostica 
tions.  The  organs  of  the  Ivepublican  party  were 
equally  decided  in  their  tone.  The  'Tribune'  is  the 
most  powerful  organ  of  the  Kadicals,  and  on  the  9th  of 
November,  1860,  it  said, — "  If  the  cotton  States  shall 


Disquisition  on  Government,'  Calhoun's  Works,  i.  p.  300. 


246  PROSPECTS   OF   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  Ml 

become  satisfied  that  they  can  do  better  out  of  the 
Union  than  in  it,  we  insist  on  Jetting  them  go  in 
peace."  On  the  26th  of  November  following,  Mr. 
Greeley  again  wrote  as  follows : — "  If  the  cotton 
States  unitedly  and  earnestly  wish  to  withdraw  peace 
fully  from  the  Union,  we  think  they  should  and  would 
be  allowed  to  do  so.  Any  attempt  to  compel  them  by 
force  to  remain  would  be  contrary  to  the  principles 
enunciated  in  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles  on  which 
human  liberty  is  based."  Two  other  extracts  from 
the  writings  of  the  same  authority  may  be  quoted  : — 
"  If  it  (the  Declaration)  justified  the  secession  from 
the  British  empire  of  three  millions  of  colonists  in 
1776,  we  do  not  see  why  it  should  not  justify  the 
secession  of  five  millions  of  Southrons  from  the 
Union  in  1861." 8  "  Whenever  it  shall  be  clear  that 
the  great  body  of  the  Southern  people  have  become 
exclusively  alienated  from  the  Union,  and  anxious  to 
escape  from  it,  we  will  do  our  best  to  forward  their 
views." 9  Were  the  vaticinations  and  statements  of 
English  newspapers,  so  bitterly  complained  of,  in  any 
respect  more  unfavourable  to  the  North  than  these? 
Every  one  engaged  in  American  politics  is  aware  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet,  with  but  two  exceptions, 
were  convinced  that  the  South  must  eventually  tri 
umph.  It  is  not  denied  that  at  the  present  hour  the 
Union  is  kept  whole  only  by  force — by  the  expedient, 

8    New  York  Tribune,'  December  17th,  1860. 
s  Ibid.  February  23rd,  1861. 


CHAP.  XII.  ESTRANGEMENT    OF    THE   SOUTH.  247 

often  before  recorded  in  history,  of  placing  the 
conquered  population  under  the  absolute  control  of 
armies.  These  conditions  are  not,  indeed,  unalterable. 
The  events  which  have  been  witnessed  of  late  years 
may,  under  the  best  conceivable  circumstances,  leave 
no  trace  of  angry  feeling  behind ;  the  Southern 
people  may  be  joined  to  the  North  again,  and  may 
forget  the  envenomed  passions  and  animosities  of  the 
past ;  they  may  accept  the  new  rule  which  has  been 
prepared  for  them,  and  banish  every  feeling  of  resent 
ment  from  their  minds;  they  may  excuse,  or  even 
justify,  the  treatment  they  have  received  since  the 
war ;  all  'these  things  may  happen  in  course  of  time, 
but  no  one  can  dispute  that  the  first  indication  of  so 
marvellous  a  change  of  public  sentiment  has  yet  to 
appear.  What  is  palpable  now,  is  that  a  party 
intensely  hostile  to  the  South  rules  at  the  North, 
and  that  it  would  be  as  easy  to  bring  the  poles 
together  as  these  two  sections  of  the  Republic.  There 
is  no  nearer  approach  to  an  era  of  universal  peace, 
than  is  indicated  by  the  establishment  of  an  unmixed 
military  despotism  over  almost  as  many  States  as 
were  embraced  within  the  original  Constitution.  This 
despotism  may  be  necessary,  but,  though  all  the 
writers  and  all  the  public  men  of  America  endea 
voured  to  prove  that  it  was  so,  they  could  not  but  prove 
at  the  same  time  that  while  it  exists  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  the  Union,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  title 
was  given  to  the  Confederated  States  by  Washington 
and  his  contemporaries.  That  wholesome  moderation 


248  PROSPECTS    OF    THE   UNION.  CHAP  XII. 

on  the  part  of  the  side  gaining  electoral  victories 
which  they  constantly  recommended  is  never  prac 
tised.  The  contest  is  fierce,  and  passions  are  too 
much  excited  for  the  vanquished  to  be  entitled  to  look 
for  mercy  when  it  is  over.  Such  a  struggle  as  that 
which  the  South  challenged  could  not  but  excite  a 
terrible  spirit  of  vengeance.  Yet  the  Northern 
people  cannot  suppose  that  it  will  be  always  safe  to 
indulge  this  vengeance,  or  that  they  can  keep  the 
Southern  people  beneath  their  feet  for  ever.  If 
their  favourite  argument  with  reference  to  Ireland 
be  'worth  anything,  it  ought  to  do  something  more 
than  supply  them  with  a  theme  for  impetuous  denun 
ciations  of  England.  It  ought  to  convince  them  of 
the  danger  of  sowing  the  seeds  of  an  internal  hatred 
by  misgovernment,  and  by  the  substitution  of  mili 
tary  for  civil  law.  Every  one  is  now  prepared  to 
admit  that  the  negro  has  nothing  further  to  gain  by 
the  abasement  of  his  former  owners.  One  of  the 
black  candidates  for  Congress  has,  indeed,  declared 
that  if  elected  he  "will  do  his  best  to  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  the  whites."  Those  who  regard  the 
Southern  planters  as  scarcely  fit  objects  for  Christian 
charity,  might  find  their  worst  wishes  satisfied  by  this 
mockery  of  fate.  But  the  ordinary,  business-loving, 
peaceable  citizen  of  the  United  States  sees  in  this 
new  Protectorate  of  the  negro  a  source  of  endless 
future  disaster.  "Unless  we  read  the  signs  of  the 
times,"  remarks  a  recent  writer,  "and  measure  the 
antagonisms  of  race  very  incorrectly,  the  nation  at 


Ckur.XIL  THE   NATIONAL    IDEAL.  249 

large,  should  such  an  alternative  be  forced  upon  it 
would  sooner  submit  to  a  single  dictator  than  to  a 
million  in  the  persons  of  black  men." l  There  are, 
however,  many  who  foresee  that  the  negroes  can  no 
longer  be  excluded  from  political  power,  and  therefore 
they  reluctantly  determine  not  to  resist  "  progress  " 
which  they  cannot  prevent.  Their  judgment  may  not 
be  fully  justified  by  events,  but  it  is  at  least  possible 
that  their  anticipations  will  be  partly  accomplished, 
and  that  negroes  will  sit  as  legislators  in  the  halls  of 
the  Capitol.  To  those  who  say  that  this  is  well,  it  is 
enough  to  reply  that  the  American  people  have  not 
yet  decided  to  make  negroes  their  rulers,  and  that  a 
contest  to  settle  that  issue  has  still  to  be  fought  out. 

In  order  to  form  even  an  imperfect  judgment 
relative  to  the  prospects  of  the  duration  of  the  poli 
tical  fabric  in  America,  in  its  present  form,  it  is 
necessary  to  understand  the  character  of  the  people, 
and  to  appreciate  properly  that  sentiment  which  I 
have  frequently  referred  to  as  their  u  ideal."  It  is 
this  ideal  which  reconciles  the  cultivated  classes  to 
many  defects  in  the  government  which  tliey  would 
gladly  remove,  and  which  causes  it  to  be  essentially 
popular  \\ith  the  bulk  of  the  people.  They  hope 
more  from  it  than  it  has  yet  given,  and  no  mis 
fortunes  that  have  happened  shake  the  assurance 
that  it  will  one  day  fully  satisfy  their  expectations. 
They  are  proud  of  their  country,  because  it  has  taken 
up  a  position  of  so  much  power  and  consequence  in 
«>  New  Yofk'Borad  Table,'  Octttfa,  1867. 


250  PBOSPECTS   OF   THE  UNION.  CHAP.  X1J 

the  world  at  so  early  a  period  of  its  history,  and  they 
would  eagerly  make  any  sacrifice  to  preserve  the 
Union  which  alone  has  made  that  position  possible. 
But  the  future  depends  upon  causes  less  under  con 
trol  than  the  exercise  of  will.  The  spirit  in  which 
the  American  people  survey  their  responsibilities 
must  greatly  influence  the  destinies  of  the  Union, 
and  their  aspirations  and  tlieir  character  will  not 
be  without  their  effect.  But  there  are  other  and 
mightier  forces  in  action  than  these.  It  is  impossible 
to  bring  fifty  or  a  hundred  millions  of  people  together, 
scattered  over  a  vast  range  of  country,  without  having 
many  conflicting  interests  immediately  spring  up. 
Wise  beyond  human  conception,  it  might  almost  be 
said  beyond  human  comprehension,  would  be  tlie 
government  which  could  exactly  accommodate  itself 
to  all  these  interests,  and  exist  for  an  extended 
period  without  giving  any  offence  or  doing  any  in 
justice.  The  advantages  of  the  Union  will  always  be 
partial,  and  the  only  plan  of  allaying  discontent  yet 
discovered  is  by  keeping  it  down  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  The  intentions  and  aims  of  the  American 
people  are,  doubtless,  of  a  very  noble  and  exalted 
character.  Regarded  in  their  highest  form,  they 
do  not  contemplate  the  future  supremacy  of  their 
country  over  other  nations,  but  they  pursue  a  contest 
for  principles  which  they  believe  to  be  essential  to 
the  happiness  and  welfare  of  mankind.  Their  imagi 
nations  are  touched  by  those  majestic  visions  of  the 
coming  days  which  their  ablest  public  men  have  con- 


CHAP.  xii.     THE  AMERICAN'S  BELIEF  IN  THE  FUTURE.        251 

stantly  conjured  up  before  their  eyes.  They  believe, 
with  the  devout  faith  with  which  men  are  accustomed 
to  cling  to  their  religion,  that  in  America,  as  Emerson 
has  told  them,11  is  the  seat  and  centre  of  the  British 
race.  There  the  individual  always  improves ;  the 
government  exists  only  for  his  welfare,  watching  to 
ward  off  evil,  but  intermeddling  with  him  no  further. 
The  strife  of  antagonistic  classes  is  one  day  to  be 
unknown,  the  sting  of  poverty  will  not  be  felt; 
there  is  plenty  for  all  within  easy  reach,  reckless 
prodigality  or  corruption  can  never  entail  burdens 
upon  the  people,  or  deprive  them  of  the  just  fruits 
of  their  industry.  As  all  men  have  an  equal  right 
to  govern,  so,  if  they  are  left  to  govern  for  them 
selves,  they  will  be  prosperous  and  contented.  There 
are  to  be  no  wrongs  inflicted  by  the  powerful  upon 
the  defenceless ;  the  voice  of  the  oppressor  is  to 
be  heard  no  more,  the  servant  will  be  free  from  his 
master.  "  Under  this  system,"  in  the  words  of  an 
American  writer,  "  the  way  is  open  for  the  realiza 
tion  of  the  most  inspiring  and  most  promising  idea 
of  modern  Christian  civilization, — the  true  brother 
hood  of  man,  in  which  man  shall  feel  himself  no 
longer  an  isolated  individual,  but  shall  find  his  com 
pleteness  and  perfection,  his  worth  and  his  happiness, 
in  the  recognised  relations  of  mutual  dependence 
existing  between  himself  and  the  community  of 
which  he  forms  an  integral  and  essential  part"  12 


11  '  English  Traits,'  last  chapter. 

12  '  North  American  Review,'  Oct.  1865. 


252  PROSPECTS   OF   THE    UNION.  CHAP.  XIL 

Such  is  the  ideal.  When  the  citizen  of  the  United 
States  speaks  of  the  greatness  and  beauty  of  the  Ame 
rican  ideas,  these  are  the  ideas  which  he  means  ;  and 
he  does  not  exaggerate  their  intrinsic  charm,  or  the 
lustre  which  they  reflect  upon  his  national  character. 
It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  nation  to  possess  ambition 
worthy  of  its  place  in  the  world ;  and  that  people 
might  well  be  proud  which  contrived  to  solve  all  the 
undiscovered  problems  of  government,  and  accom 
plished  the  objects  hitherto  restricted  to  republics  of 
the  imagination.  But  does  the  experience  of  eighty 
years  of  the  American  system  justify  these  boasts  or 
these  anticipations?  Do  the  people  rest  their  claims 
to  be  considered  the  most  enlightened  nation  of  the 
world  solely  upon  their  material  progress?  Their 
wealth  and  strength,  realised  and  potential,  cannot 
disappoint  their  expectations.  The  constant  tide  of 
emigration  keeps  up  the  freshness  and  vigour  of  the 
race,  and  more  than  compensates  for  the  wear  and 
tear  of  life  which  the  influences  of  climate,  and  the 
ever  pressing  desire  to  grow  rich,  inevitably  entail.13 
But  what  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  progress  of  the 
people  ?  It  has  been  great,  no  doubt,  but  is  it  com 
mensurate  with  their  advance  in  external  marks  of 
prosperity  ?  Where  is  the  candid  and  well-informed 
American  who  will  prove  that  it  is  ?  The  publications 
which  issue  from  the  press  for  the  poorer  classes  are  a 


13  Between  1820  and  1860  upwards  of  five  millions  of  emigrants 
arrived  in  the  country,  of  whom  2£  millions  were  from  the  United 
Kingdom.— '  Census  Report  of  I860.' 


CHAP.  XII.       DEGRADATION   OP   POPULAR   LITERATURE.  253 

scandal  to  honest  men.  They  are  sold  and  read  by 
thousands,  and  cannot  be  altogether  without  influ 
ence.14  Nowhere  are  impostures  of  every  kind,  which 
are  intended  to  deceive  the  ignorant,  so  common  as  in 
America.  The  execrable  charlatans  who  prey  upon 
the  physical  and  mental  fears  of  mankind  are  thicker 
than  locusts  in  an  Eastern  field.  They  abound  and 
prosper  elsewhere,  but  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that 
in  no  part  of  the  world  are  they  so  numerous  and  so 
rich,  or  ply  their  vocations  with  so  much  impunity 
and  disregard  of  laws,  as  in  the  United  States.  Edu 
cation  does  little  or  nothing  for  the  common  people 
in  protecting  them  from  the  effects  of  the  most 
ignorant  delusions  and  the  most  abject  superstitions. 
It  would  be  an  error  to  attach  undue  importance  to 
such  circumstances  as  these  ;  but  they  demand  men 
tion,  because  they  are  among  the  things  which 
prove  that  the  national  ideal  is  not  yet  attained. 
They  show  that  the  triumphs  of  knavery  and  folly, 
of  ignorance  and  superstition,  are  renewed,  and  not 
ended,  in  the  great  Western  world. 

In  the  social  life  of  the  people,  the  influence  of 
habits  derived  from  imitations  of  another  race  is  too 
plain  to  be  overlooked,  even  by  enthusiasts  who  ac 
knowledge  no  imperfections  in  the  government.  It  is 

14  See,  for  example,  the  'Police  Gazette,'  the  'Police  Intelli 
gencer,'  and  the  score  of  periodicals  which  cover  the  street-stalls  and 
counters  of  common  book-shops  ;  or  lot  a  list  be  taken  of  the  books 
which  are  vended  in  so  public  and  well-known  an  establishment  as 
Willard's  Hotel,  at  Washington.  Every  r<  sptctable  American  passes 
them  with  loathing  ;  but  their  sale  is  enormous. 


254  PEOSPECTS   OP  THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XH, 

essential  to  have  a  correct  knowledge  of  this,  in  order 
to  comprehend  the  almost  invariable  paradox  of 
the  American  character.  Some,  indeed,  attribute  all 
these  anomalies  to  the  effect  of  climate  alone.  Even 
political  differences  have  been  traced  to  this  cause. 
Thus,  one  writer  tells  us  that  "  climate  converted 
what  had  been  merely  different  classes  in  England 
into  distinct  national  types  in  America,"  and  he  re 
peats  the  idea  in  a  thousand  forms,  and  endeavours  to 
give  it  cogency  by  many  laborious  illustrations.15  The 
Americans  are,  as  a  rule,  nervous,  excitable,  restless, 
impatient,  quick-tempered,  but  withal  kind-hearted, 
hospitable,  and  generous  almost  beyond  description. 
A  man  might  live  many  years  among  them  without 
doing  full  justice  to  their  disposition,  but  he  would 
certainly  end  by  becoming  exceedingly  attached  to 
it.  But  there  can  be  no  motive  for  denying  that 
French  influences  are  plainly  visible  in  the  daily  life 
of  the  nation,  less  so  in  New  England  than  in  other 
parts  of  the  country,  but  everywhere  in  some  degree. 
And  even  if  New  England  were  free  from  the 
infection,  she  is  not  America,  but  only  a  small 
portion  of  it,  and  we  have  no  more  right  to  take 
those  five  States  as  a  model  of  the  whole  continent. 


15  Draper's  'History  of  the  American  Civil  War,'  New  York,  1867. 
This  writer  appears  to  believe  that  a  proper  understanding  of 
climatic  influences  would  tend  to  prevent  future  political  troubles. 
"Estrangement,"  he  Bays,  "subsides  when  men  mutually  begin  to 
inquire  into  the  philosophical  causes  of  each  other's  obliquities; 
when  they  comprehend  that  there  overrides  so  many  of  their  appa 
rently  voluntary  actions  a  necessary,  an  unavoidable  constraint " — 
(p.  37 J. 


QIAP.  X1L  THE  INFLUENCE   OF  FRENCH   IDEAS.  255 

than  we  have  to  take  the  city  of  New  York. 
American  writers  often  deplore  the  length  to  which 
their  countrymen  are  inclined  to  carry  their  imita 
tions  of  French  manners  and  French  ideas  of  do 
mestic  life.  New  England  statisticians  assert  that 
of  late  years  the  aversion  to  a  family  has  been 
growing  more  and  more  general.16  The  Americans 
are  forming  their  national  character  under  circum 
stances  very  different  from  those  which  their  fore 
fathers  knew.  The  English  have  never,  as  Buckle 
points  out,  transplanted  the  manners  and  customs  of 
France.  French  influence,  he  remarks,  never  affected 
the  two  most  important  classes  in  England,  the  "  in 
tellectual  class  and  the  industrial  class."  But  there 
have  been  special  circumstances  to  bring  Americans 
into  closer  contact  with  the  French  than  with  the 
English.  The  services  of  Lafayette  to  the  colonists 
are  gratefully  recalled,  and,  while  England  is  remem 
bered  as  an  enemy,  France  is  regarded  as  a  hereditary 
friend.  \Ylien  Americans  leave  their  business  to 
obtain  relaxation  in  travel,  they  naturally  find  more 
pleasure  upon  the  boulevards  of  Paris  than  in  the 
dingy  streets  of  London.  There  is  an  element,  too, 
in  the  disposition  and  temperament  of  the  two  nations 
which  makes  them  agree.  The  Americans  are  fond 
of  pleasure,  and  are  happiest  in  the  absence  of  con 
ventionalities  and  the  freedom  from  restraint. 

There  have  also  been  political  jealousies  to  keep 

16  See  also  a  remarkable  statement  by  Mr.  Horace  Greoley  in  a 
recent  number  of  the  'New  York  Independent.'      July,  1867.; 


256  PBOSPKOTS  OP  THB  UNION.  CHAP.  XH. 

the  English  and  Americans  asunder.  Sometimes  a 
dislike  of  England  seems  to  be  in  the  very  fibre  of 
the  American  character.  There  are  Americans  who 
are  proud  of  their  descent,  or  who  owe  their  edu 
cation  to  the  mother  country,  and  would  not  give 
up  their  part  in  the  glories  of  her  history  and  her 
literature  for  all  the  small  national  differences  which 
were  ever  fostered  by  the  perversity  or  the  vanity  of 
man.  But  there  are  some  with  whom  jealousy  of 
England  amounts  to  a  disease  of  the  intellectual 
faculties,  and  who  angrily  resent  from  an  English 
man  the  faintest  echo  of  criticism  which  their 
own  press  or  public  men  pronounce  unchallenged. 
National  antipathies  and  passions  cannot  always  be 
explained  or  accounted  for,  and  they  are  sometimes 
the  most  dangerous  when  their  sources  are  unknown. 
The  most  recent  complaint  of  Americans  is,  that 
they  were  traduced  and  misrepresented  by  English 
writers  during  their  war — but  have  they  nothing  to 
complain  of  on  this  score  from  other  countries  ? 
French  writers  were  not  less  hostile  to  them  and 
their  cause ;  but  they  do  not  hate  France.  In  her 
case  they  prefer  to  obey  the  Scriptural  injunction, 
and  love  those  who  despitefully  use  them.  So,  too, 
as  it  has  been  shown,  their  own  press  was  charged 
with  heavier  accusations  against  the  national  cha 
racter,  and  drew  a  darker  representation  of  the 
part  which  the  North  played  in  the  war,  and 
mo7*e  systematically  misrepresented  the  deeds  of 
the  Northern  armies,  than  the  newspapers  of  all 


CfcAT.XIL  ENGLAND   AND    AMERICA.  257 

the  rest  of  the  world  put  together.  Would  the 
Americans,  the  greatest  lovers  of  liberty  alive,  deny 
to  English  publicists  the  same  freedom  of  speech 
and  opinion  which  their  own  countrymen  enjoy  ? 

But,  in  truth,  America  has  always  averted  her  face 
from  England,  as  England  too  often  has  averted  hers 
from  America.  In  such  an  unfortunate  estrange 
ment  as  this,  it  would  answer  no  good  purpose  to 
inquire  which  has  given  the  greatest  cause  of  offence. 
But  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  in  England  there  is 
not  found  a  class  of  politicians  who  make  it  one 
object  of  their  lives  to  stir  up  the  prejudices  of  their 
countrymen  against  America,  to  poison  their  minds 
with  misstatements  and  false  representations,  and  to 
endeavour  to  raise  a  popular  demand  for  war.  There 
is  a  class  of  politicians  in  America  who  find  it  profit 
able  to  act  thus  in  relation  to  England.  But  we 
are  not  to  blame  the  native-born  American.  He 
may  sometimes  join  in  the  cry  to  win  an  election, 
but  his  better  sense  and  judgment  recoil  from  the 
work.  The  anti-English  feeling  in  America  is  part 
of  the  legacy  of  Irish  hatred  which  we  have  inherited 
from  those  who  have  gone  before  us.  Thousands  of 
emigrants  who  leave  the  British  Isles  for  the  New 
World  quit  them  with  a  curse  in  their  hearts.  The 
sense  of  injury  inspires  them  with  undying  hatred. 
The  Irishman  has  never  heard  his  poverty  and  his 
hardships  ascribed  to  any  other  cause  but  the 
oppression  of  England,  and  1.3  hates  fiercely  the 

s 


268  PBOSPECTS   OF   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XU. 

enemy  who  has  inflicted  all  these  wrongs  upon  his 
race.  The  English  or  Scotch  labourer  who  emigrates 
to  America  does  so,  not  in  discontent  or  anger,  but 
in  order  to  provide  for  himself  and  his  family  better 
means  of  support  than  are  at  his  command,  as  he 
believes,  iii  his  own  land.  So  far  from  hating  his 
country,  it  is  sometimes  many  years  before  he  con 
quers  that  home  sickness  which  is  the  worst  burden 
of  the  dweller  in  strange  lands.  To  emigrants  such 
as  these,  there  is  no  present  so  acceptable  as  an 
English  book  or  an  English  newspaper.  They  follow 
the  political  events  of  their  mother  country  with  as 
keen  an  interest  as  if  they  had  never  left  it.  As 
time  passes  on,  and  they  grow  prosperous,  their 
desire  to  return  may  grow  stronger,  but  they  are  less 
fit  than  ever  to  go  back  to  renew  a  life  of  toil,  and 
moreover  there  is  a  family  to  provide  for.  Thus  they 
settle  down,  and  their  children  grow  up  to  be  proud 
of  the  English  name  and  their  inherited  share  in  the 
illustrious  renown  which  she  has  won.  This  is  the  story 
of  many  an  American  home.  But  with  the  Irish 
emigrant  all  is  different.  He  lands  with  a  grievance 
exuding  from  every  pore.  Upon  this  class  the  un 
scrupulous  or  the  ignorant  politician  works  at  his 
pleasure.  The  Irishman  is  easily  fusible,  and  the 
party  leader  understands  how  to  manage  him.  A 
pretext  for  abusing  or  threatening  England  is  never 
lacking.  It  is  impossible  to  please  a  person  who  is 
determined  to  be  dissatisfied,  and  the  task  is  not 


CHAP.  XIL  ILL   PEELING   AGAINST    ENGLAND.  259 

easier  when  it  is  attempted  with  a  nation.  President 
Jackson,  in  his  message  to  Congress  in  1829,  referred 
to  America  and  England  in  these  terms : — "  Every 
thing  in  the  condition  and  history  of  the  two  nations 
is  calculated  to  inspire  sentiments  of  mutual  respect, 
and  to  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  both  that 
it  is  their  policy  to  preserve  the  most  cordial  rela 
tions."  Sucli  language  as  this  has  been  rare  in  the" 
messages  of  Presidents,  or  the  despatches  of  American 
Foreign  Secretaries,  in  later  years.  The  good  sense, 
the  forbearance,  and  the  patience  of  both  peoples, 
may  yet  root  up  animosities  which  are  as  mischievous 
as  they  are  unfounded.  There  is  no  good  to  be  done 
in  the  world  comparable  to  that  of  bringing  America 
and  England  into  bonds  of  cordial  friendship.  The 
work  which  England  has  tried  to  do,  not  without 
many  heavy  sacrifices,  nor  without  many  successes,  of 
maintaining  freedom  and  spreading  enlightenment 
in  the  world,  must  one  day  be  taken  up  by  America. 
England,  whatever  faults  may  be  ascribed  to  her  by 
the  hirelings  of  Trades'  Unions,  or  the  creatures  of  a 
faction,  has  struck  many  a  blow  for  freedom  when 
there  was  none  other  to  strike  it,  and  she  has  ere 
now  accomplished  such  work  as  no  true  child  or  de 
scendant  of  hers  will  ever  seek  to  dishonour.  If  there 
be  any  truth  in  the  theory  of  the  necessary  decadence 
of  nations,  the  day  must  come  when  her  power  will 
depart  from  her,  and  when  even  her  glory  must  rest 
upon  tradition.  In  that  day  America  will  be  covered 

s  2 


260  PEOSPECTS   OP   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XII. 

with  hundreds  of  millions  of  free  men,  and  upon 
them  must  fall  the  responsibilities  and  duties  which 
the  small  island  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  long  wield 
ing  an  influence  altogether  disproportionate  to  its 
physical  means,  endeavoured  in  ancient  times  to 
discharge.  If  America  could  hasten  the  decay  of 
England  by  a  few  years,  what  would  she  have  gained 
by  destroying  a  power  which  showed  her  how  to  be 
free  by  keeping  the  sacred  fire  of  freedom  alive 
through  generations  when  it  was  extinguished  and 
all  was  dark  elsewhere,  and  which  with  her  presents 
to  this  day  the  only  formidable  barrier  against  the 
dominion  of  a  hostile  race  ?  England  and  America 
are  the  natural  allies  of  the  world,  and  they  are  kept 
apart  by  brawls  which  would  disgrace  a  community 
of  quarrelsome  villagers. 

With  France,  happily  for  the  peace  of  mankind, 
it  is  not  so.  Occasional  misunderstandings  between 
France  and  America  have  arisen,  but  the  Americans 
are  persistent  in  their  resolve  not  to  take  offence  at 
anything  which  Frenchmen  say  or  Frenchmen  write. 
This  indifference  to  criticism  in  one  direction,  and 
an  excessive  sensitiveness  to  it  in  another,  might  be 
regarded  as  an  involuntary  testimony  to  the  high 
estimation  in  which  Americans  hold  the  English 
judgment ;  but  such  conclusions  are  an  unworthy 
mockery  of  the  question.  Since  France  is  preferred, 
can  we  wonder  that  French  manners  influence  social 
life  in  the  United  States  more  than  English  man- 


CHAP.  XII.  DE   TOCQUEVILLE'S    STATEMENTS.  261 

ners  ?  Formerly,  travellers  concurred  ill  bearing 
witness  to  the  simplicity  of  the  habits  of  Americans. 
Some  of  De  Tocqueville's  remarks  on  this  subject 
seem  now  as  if  they  were  written  in  a  tone  .of 
cynicism  which  he  rarely  betrayed.  The  morality 
of  the  people  he  describes  as  being  so  supernaturally 
pure  that  he  is  obliged  to  travel  beyond  the  ordinary 
range  of  human  motives  to  account  for  it.  He  traces 
it  to  the  equality  of  conditions  of  all  classes.  In  aris 
tocratic  communities,  people  who  have  a  fondness  for 
each  other  cannot  always  marry,  and  "  nature  secretly 
avenges  herself  for  the  constraint  imposed  upon  her 
by  the  laws  of  man."17  But  in  America,  where  a 
woman  knows  that  there  are  no  social  prejudices  to 
forbid  her  marriage  with  any  man  she  may  happen  to 
love,  she  never  does  wrong,  and  married  life  is  unsul 
lied,  because  all  marriages  arc  made  from  motives  of 
affection.  Besides  this  security  of  national  virtue, 
we  are  assured  that  the  busy  life  which  Americans 
lead  "distracts  them  from  the  passion  of  love,  by 
denying  them  time  to  indulge  it" ll  This  is  one  of  the 
passages  of  M.  de  Tocqueville's  work  which  has  never 
failed  to  amuse  the  American  reader.  And  again  he 
says  —  "  In  America  all  books,  novels  not  excepted, 
suppose  women  to  be  chaste,  and  no  one  thinks  of 
relating  affairs  of  gallantry."19 


17  '  Democracy  in  America,'  chap.  xi.  vol.  ii.  p.  250.    (Torne  iiL 
p.  332.)  18  Ibid.  p.  254.    (Tome  iii.  p.  837.) 

19  Ibid.  p.  250.     (Tome  iii  p  331.) 


262  PBOSPEOTS   OF   THE    UNION.  CHAP.  XII 

No  one  supposes  that  the  Americans  are  less  moral 
or  religious  as  a  people  than  other  nations,  but  De 
Tocqneville's  observations  seem  to  be  slander  dis 
guised  as  irony  and  caricature.  In  the  midst  of  his 
romantic  picture,  he  occasionally  introduces  some  true 
touches.  He  was  obliged  to  own  that  he  found  a 
taste  for  self-indulgence  among  the  people,  and  vari 
ous  circumstances  have  occurred  since  his  time  to 
give  an  impetus  to  the  race  for  wealth  and  the  love 
of  display.  "  The  love  of  well-being,"  he  remarks,70 
"  is  now  become  the  predominant  taste  of  the  nation  ; 
the  great  current  of  human  passions  runs  in  that 
channel,  and  sweeps  everything  along  its  course." 
But  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  reconcile  this 
opinion  with  the  opposite  statement  that  he  had 
made.  He  could  only  do  it  by  assigning  miraculous 
virtues  to  Democracy.  He  says,  in  a  passage  which 
almost  reads  like  a  burlesque  of  his  opinions  by  a 
malicious  critic,  "  The  passion  for  physical  gratifica 
tions  produces  in  Democracies  effects  very  different 
from  those  which  it  occasions  in  aristocratic  nations."21 
He  might  as  well  have  asserted  that  the  passion  for 
stealing  one's  neighbour's  goods,  or  coveting  one's 
neighbour's  wife,  is  a  vice  in  monarchies  and  a  virtue 
in  Democracies.  Fortunately  for  the  purposes  of  sober 
judgment,  M.  de  Tocqueville  supplies  us  with  illustra 
tions  of  his  meaning : — "  To  build  enormous  palaces, 


30  '  Democracy  in  America,'  chap.  x.  vol.  ii.  p.  157.     (Tonie  iii, 
p.  211.)  21  Ibid.  chap.  xi.  vol.  ii.  p.  158.    (Tome,  iii.  p.  212.) 


GIAP.XIL  DE  TOCQUEVILLE'S  ERRORS.  263 

to  conquer  or  to  mimic  nature,  to  ransack  the  world 
in  order  to  gratify  the  passions  of  a  man,  is  not 
thought  of."  Even  when  De  Tocqueville  visited  the 
country  such  a  remark  as  this  could  only  have  been 
founded  on  the  most  partial  observation,  like  another 
of  his  statements,  that  "  ii>  the  North  the  majority 
of  servants  are  either  freedrnen  or  the  children  of 
freedmen"22 — which,  as  his  American  editor  justly 
points  out,  is  the  mistake  of  a  stranger  who  judges 
of  a  country  from  its  hotels.  The  experience  of  any 
one  who  has  seen  an  American  city  or  its  suburbs — 
the  Wabash  or  Michigan  Avenues  of  Chicago,  the 
environs  of  St.  Louis  or  Cincinnati,  the  Brook  line  of 
Boston,  the  Fifth  Avenue  of  New  York,  the  palatial 
residences  of  Newport  or  Long  Branch — must  give  a 
different  impression  of  the  habits  of  the  American 
people  from  that  which  M.  de  Tocqueville  conveys. 
An  American  writer,  speaking  of  his  own  country, 
says, — "  As  a  people  we  are  lavish  beyond  any  other 
in  our  personal  habits  and  ways  of  living.  The  extra 
vagance  of  the  rich  in  dress,  equipages,  and  entertain 
ments  is  noticeable  at  home,  and  too  often  generates 
abroad  into  an  ostentation  more  conspicuous  than 
creditable."23  Nor  is  M.  de  Tocqueville  less  in  error 
when  he  says  "  that  the  inhabitants  of  North  America 
look  upon  literature  properly  so  called  with  a  kind  of 


28  '  Democracy  in  America,'  chap.  v. 
28  •  New  York  Times,'  Sept.  26,  1867. 


264  PROSPECTS   OF   THB   UNION.  CHAP.  XII. 

disapprobation," M  or  that,  "  in  the  civil  service,  none 
of  the  American  functionaries  can  be  said  to  be  remov 
able  ;  the  places  which  some  of  them  occupy  are  inali 
enable,  and  the  others  are  chosen  for  a  term  which 
cannot  be  shortened."25  The  latter  statement  was 
never  at  any  time  supported  by  facts.  The  very 
opposite  is  true — all  officers  being  easily  removable, 
except  the  judges  of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court. 

If  the  character  of  the  nation  were  to  be  drawn  by 
an  American  with  a  perfectly  impartial  hand,  it  would 
be  found  neither  so  exalted  as  its  professed  panegy 
rists  depict  it,  nor  so  full  of  faults  as  adverse  critics 
have  sometimes  led  us  to  suppose.  That  the  Americans 
have  peculiarities  of  temperament  and  disposition  they 
will  admit,  nor  are  these  peculiarities  anything  to 
their  discredit.  Nervousness,  excitability,  and  rest 
lessness  are  characteristics  which  may  probably  be 
traced  in  some  degree  to  the  lax  discipline  which 
prevails  in  the  training  of  the  young.  The  theory 
of  Dr.  Draper  upon  climatic  influences,  is  at  least  valu 
able  as  another  proof  that  the  existence  of  extreme 
differences  among  the  people  of  various  sections  of 
the  Union,  is  recognised  by  all  classes  of  American 
writers. 

De  Tocqueville,  however,  gave  the  weight  of  his 
authority  to  the  statement  that  there  were  no  hostile 
interests  to  be  found  in  the  Union.  The  result  of 


84  '  Democracy  in  America,'  vol.  i.  p.  403.     (Tome  ii.  p.  233.) 

85  Ibid.  ib.  p.  136.    (Tome  i.  pp.  180-181.) 


CHAP.  XIL  DK    TOCQUEVILLF/8    ERRORS.  265 

his  travels  and  reflections  was  to  convince  him  that 
it  was  "  almost  impossible  to  discover  any  private  in 
terest  which  might  now  tempt  a  portion  of  the  Union 
to  separate  from  the  other  States."26  "It  is  easy 
indeed,"  he  says  again,  "to  discover  different  in 
terests  in  the  different  parts  of  the  Union,  but  I  am 
unacquainted  with  any  which  are  hostile  to  each 
other."27  American  writers  of  the  highest  authority 
might  have  led  him  to  other  conclusions.  So,  too,  he 
affirms  that  no  natural  barriers  divide  the  people,  for 
getting  that,  when  the  Pacific  slope  became  peopled, 
the  Rocky  Mountains  would  lie  between  their  inhabit 
ants  and  the  Atlantic  States.  "  The  inhabitants  of 
the  South,"  he  remarks  elsewhere,  "  are  induced  to 
support  the  Union  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  its 
protection  against  the  blacks  " — a  curious  misappre 
hension  of  the  relationship  which  existed  at  that  time 
between  the  two  races,  and  an  instance  of  the  failure 
of  his  foresight  not  less  remarkable  than  his  well- 
known  prediction,  that,  if  any  States  ever  desired  to 
leave  the  Union,  no  attempt  would  be  made  to  restrain 
them,  or  would  fail  if  made."28 

Some  other  statements  of  this  distinguished  writer 
serve  to  present  in  a  clear  light  the  change  which  of 
late  years  has  passed  over  the  government  in  all  its 
relations.  "  The  Union,"  he  remarks,  "  is  a  vast 
body,  which  presents  no  definite  object  to  patriotic 

26  '  Democracy  in  America,'  vol.  ii.  p.  250. 
^  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  503.  (Tome  ii.  p.  358.) 
28  Ibid.  vol.  i.  pp.  497-99  and  500.  (Tome  ii.  p.  343  et  teq.) 


266  PROSPECTS    OF    THE    UNION.  CHAP.  XH. 

feeling.  .  .  .  The  tendency  of  the  interests,  the 
habits,  and  the  feelings  of  the  people  is  to  centre 
political  activity  in  the  States  in  preference  to  the 
Union."  M  And  again  he  says,  "  The  Federal  govern 
ment  is,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  precautions  of 
those  who  founded  it,  naturally  so  weak,  that,  more 
than  any  other,  it  requires  the  free  consent  of  the 
governed  to  enable  it  to  subsist."  M  T^ese,  and  many 
other  observations  of  the  same  nature,  show  that  M. 
de  Tocqueville  had  failed  to  penetrate  the  real  senti 
ment  of  the  American  people.  Any  man  of  intelli 
gence  with  whom  he  conversed  in  the  South  would 
have  expressed  to  him  the  views  which  are  summed 
up  in  the  foregoing  passages,  and  his  chapter  on  the 
prospects  of  the  duration  of  the  Union  might  almost 
have  been  written  by  John  C.  Calhoun.  It  is  a  faith 
ful  reflex  of  Southern  feeling.  But  it  gave  a  false  im 
pression  of  the  national  feeling.  The  attachment  to 
the  Federation,  on  account  of  the  dignity  and  power 
which  it  gave  to  all  its  members,  was  always  latent  in 
a  majority  of  the  people,  and  when  they  were  called 
upon  to  choose  between  that  and  the  indulgence  of 
local  passions,  they  would  certainly  throw  everything 
aside  for  the  sake  of  clinging  fast  to  the  common 
bond.  The  Federation  was  entered  into  in  despite 
of  internal  derangements,  and,  if  its  value  as  a 
source  of  strength  was  perceived  in  1789,  it  was  not 
probable  that  it  would  be  .depreciated  in  1861.  The 


29  'Democracy  in  America,'  vol.  i.  p.  496.     (Tom1,  ii.  p.  350.) 

30  Ibid  p.  497.     (Tome  ii.  p.  351.) 


CHAP.  XII.  A    NEW    ERA    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT.  267 

great  point  that  remained  to  be  tested  was  whether 
the  integrity  of  States  was  consistent  with  the  con 
tinual  development  of  the  central  power.  Slavery  led 
to  the  issue  being  tried  and  decided  long  before  it  might 
otherwise  have  arisen,  but  it  could  not  always  have 
been  hidden  or  evaded.  There  has  now  occurred  a 
general  dislocation  of  the  government.  The  Federal 
principle  rises  supreme;  the  State  principle  is  weak 
ened.  We  see  the  people  of  the  United  States  embark 
ing  in  what  is  essentially  a  new  plan  of  government,  in 
which  their  past  experience  will  be  of  little  service  to 
them.  Slavery  is  gone,  but  the  pitiless  enmities  excited 
by  slavery  have  been  touched  with  fresh  fire.  It  was 
not  the  four  millions  of  men  and  women  in  bondage 
which  constituted  the  great  danger  of  the  Union.  It 
was  the  passionate  dispute  over  them,  which  knew  no 
cessation,  that  broke  up  the  peace  of  the  country. 
The  position  of  the  negro  has  been  reversed :  from 
the  slave  he  has  become  the  ruler ;  the  destinies  ot 
his  former  masters  have  been  committed  to  his  hands ; 
but  he  is  still  the  object  of  the  bitterest  dissensions 
which  ever  agitated  a  people.  The  settlement  of  the 
radical  disagreement  between  the  North  and  the 
South  has  not  been  attempted.  A  desire  for  revenge 
has  been  added  to  the  other  resentful  impulses  of  the 
Southern  section,  and  the  negro,  whom  the  North 
released  from  slavery,  but  will  not  make  politically 
free,  is  still  the  formidable  agent  of  disunion.  If  the 
North  had  been  perfectly  just  in  its  measures  on 
behalf  of  what  it  calls  "  human  freedom,"  the  exas- 


268  PROSPECTS   OF    THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XII 

peration  of  the  South  might  not  have  been  so  terrible. 
It  boasted  of  its  intentions  to  give  the  negro  the 
rights  of  a  citizen,  while  it  systematically  denied 
them  to  him  in  its  own  division  of  the  country.  Why 
did  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  within  the 
space  of  a  few  months  past,  refuse  to  sanction  negro 
suffrage  by  overwhelming  majorities  ?  They  helped 
to  force  negro  suffrage  upon  the  South.  They  were 
among  the  foremost  to  demand  the  full  and  complete 
enfranchisement  of  the  liberated  slave.  They  did 
not,  it  is  true,  ever  attempt  to  assert  that  they  went 
to  war  with  the  South  for  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
That  may  have  been  the  theory  of  a  few  extremists, 
but  the  bulk  of  the  people  never  thought  of  slavery 
— they  went  to  war  to  save  the  Union,  and  to  pre 
serve  the  honour  of  their  flag.  The  extremists  could 
afterwards  enter  the  field,  covered  with  the  dead 
bodies  of  those  whom  they  hated,  and  shout  what 
cries  of  exultation  they  pleased,  for  the  masses  who 
fought  had  retired,  and  the  foe  was  silent.  If  the 
desire  to  do  justice  to  the  negro  was  so  universal  in 
the  North  as  the  English  people  have  often  been 
assured,  why  do  not  the  Northern  States  invest  him 
now  with  political  rights  ?  Why  does  Ohio  turn 
away  from  her  counsels  in  disgrace  the  men  who 
came  to  her  with  negro  suffrage  in  their  hands? 
Because  the  Northern  people  at  heart  are  weary  of 
the  negro,  and  his  wrongs,  and  his  pretensions,  and 
his  champions,  and  all  that  appertains  to  him.  They 


OHAP.  XII.  THE    LESSOR    OF    SECESSION 


turn  him  loose  in  the  South  that  he  m4w<ifei  a  scojifge 

to  the  people  who  strove  to  destroy  the  government^  ^  7>  * 

— they  give  him  licence,  not  because  they 

but  because  they  wish  to  avenge  themselves  upon 

masters,  and  to  hold  up  a   fearful  warning   to   all 

advocates  of  secession  who  may  come  hereafter. 

Whether  the  Union  will  exist  or  perish  is  beyond 
the  power  of  human  discernment  to  determine,  but 
it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  it  will  never  be  dis 
solved  without  a  struggle  as  fierce  as  that  which 
closed  in  1865.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that,  while  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  perceive  plainly  that  division 
would  be  a  fatal  blow  to  American  power,  the  Ame 
rican  people  are  blind  to  the  fact?  They  are  am 
bitious;  they  have  unbounded  faith  and  belief  in 
themselves.  In  all  probability,  even  had  the  South 
gained  its  independence,  so  strong  is  the  influence  of 
a  patriotic  feeling,  that  it  would  always  have  readily 
united  with  the  North  against  the  attacks  of  any 
third  power.  Americans  are  anxious  to  grow  in 
power  as  a  nation,  and  they  know  that  the  Union 
offers  them  the  means  of  gratifying  this  desire- 
Warned  by  the  disastrous  experience  of  the  Southern 
people,  what  other  section  of  the  community  will  ever 
be  willing  to  fight  as  they  have  fought,  only  to  suffer 
as  they  have  suffered?  That  bloody  and  unequal 
struggle  will  not  be  renewed,  or,  if  it  be,  the  abet 
tors  of  it  may  see  their  fate  reflected  in  that  vast 
and  unhappy  region  which  extends  from  the  Potomac 


270  PBOSPECTS    OF    THE    UNION.  CHAP.  XII 

to  the  Kio  Grande,  and  which  is  covered  this  day 
with  mourning  women  and  desolate  homes. 

Yet  great  popular  commotions  may  occur.  That 
element  of  the  government  which  has  always  seemed 
to  be  the  best  security  for  its  stability,  namely,  the 
integrity  of  the  States,  has  been  much  shattered  in 
the  convulsions  of  recent  years.  "The  great  mass 
of  legislation,"  said  President  Jackson  in  his  first 
annual  message,  "  relating  to  our  internal  affairs, 
was  intended  to  be  left  where  the  Federal  Conven 
tion  found  it — in  the  State  governments.  Nothing 
is  clearer,  in  my  view,  than  that  we  are  chiefly 
indebted  for  the  success  of  the  Constitution  under 
which  we  are  now  acting  to  the  watchful  and  auxiliary 
operation  of  the  State  authorities."  Once  establish 
a  precedent,  no  matter  on  what  pretext,  for  breaking 
down  the  State  systems  by  the  Federal  arm,  and 
the  future  is  chaos.  Who  shall  say  what  party, 
what  majority,  may  rule  next?  In  our  own  time 
we  see  States  deprived  of  their  "equal  rights," 
denied  the  right  of  representation,  compelled  to 
accept  laws  made  for  them  by  the  Federal  Con 
gress  in  which  they  are  not  allowed  to  have  a  voice, 
the  press  liable  to  avert issements,  the  pulpit  coerced 
or  suborned,  and  the  ballot-box  handed  over  almost 
exclusively  to  a  race  which,  in  reasoning  powers,  is 
not  far  superior  to  the  creatures  of  the  field.  Every 
one  of  these  measures  may  be  indispensable  in  the 
eyes  of  the  majority,  but  is  any  one  of  them  con- 


Cfcxp.  XJL  PRESIDENT    JACKSON'S   WARNING.  271 

sisteut  with  the  former  principles  of  the  Union,  01 
with  a  faultless  incorporation  of  liberty  and  freedom 
which  some  Americans  believe  they  were  the  first 
to  discover,  and  will  be  the  last  to  defend?  Had 
the  doctrine  that  each  State-  shall  be  permitted  to 
reserve  the  right  to  manage  its  internal  affairs  been 
transmitted  to  posterity,  the  Union,  with  the  curse  of 
slavery  removed  from  it,  might  have  defied  the  hand 
of  time.  But  now  the  individual  parts  are  subjected 
to  a  power  resembling  the  centrifugal  force  of  the 
physical  world.  Leave  each  State  free  to  order  its 
own  concerns,  and  it  would  have  signified  little  by 
what  name  the  general  government  was  called,  or 
how  wide  was  the  area  over  which  it  extended. 
There  would  have  been  the  strength  of  a  nation, 
with  untrammelled  local  governments.  But  State 
institutions  have  been  formally  placed  at  the  mercy 
of  the  majority.  To-day  it  is  the  Eepublicans  who  are 
wielding  the  lash  ;  in  a  short  time  they  in  their  turn 
may  be  brought  under  its  stroke.  To-day  they  and 
they  only  decide  what  the  Constitution  means;  to 
morrow  their  antagonists  may  claim  the  heaven-sent 
gift  of  reading  it  aright. 

"  Upon  this  country,"  said  Jackson  to  his  country 
men  in  the  message  just  quoted,  "  more  than  any 
other,  has,  in  the  providence  of  God,  been  cast  the 
special  guardianship  of  the  great  principle  of  adher 
ence  to  written  Constitutions.  If  it  fail  here,  all  hope 
in  regard  to  it  will  be  extinguished."  The  words  of 


272  PBOSPECTS   OF   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XII 

this  solemn  warning  are  as  lifeless  as  he  who  uttered 
them.  The  "  sacred  law  "  is  only  brought  out,  like 
the  great  car  of  the  Hindoos,  to  be  decked  with  the 
popular  deities,  and  driven  over  the  necks  of  the 
minority.  It  wears  the  colours  of  every  side  which 
happens  to  govern.  Where  are  the  unalterable 
principles  of  which  "  the  fathers  "  boasted  ?  Once 
tamper  with  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land,  the 
law  by  which  alone  the  separate  fragments  could 
cohere,  and  all  other  changes  are  easy.  There  was 
once  a  power  in  the  Union  which  said,  "  This  shall 
be  done  and  the  other  shall  not  be  done."  But  it  is 
destroyed — mainly,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  arro 
gance  and  folly  of  the  minority,  but  not  the  less 
effectually  destroyed.  One  step  after  another  has 
been  taken,  until  at  last  the  "  sacred  law  "  is  scoffed 
at,  and  those  who  expounded  it  seem  like  the  teach 
ers  of  an  exploded  school  of  philosophy.  "  No  man," 
remarked  President  Van  Buren,  writing  of  Hamilton, 
"  better  understood  than  he  that  the  inviolate  sanc 
tity  of  a  written  Constitution  was  the  life  of  a  repub 
lican  government,  and  that  its  days  were  numbered 
from  the  moment  its  people  and  rulers  ceased  thus  to 
preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it." 31  But  where  are 
now  the  safeguards  upon  which  all  eminent  Americans 
who  have  ever  lived  chiefly  depended  for  the  perma 
nence  of  the  Union — the  integrity  of  State  rights,  and 


»  'Political  Parties,  p.  213. 


DEVOLUTIONS   IN    THE   CONSTITUTION.  273 


the  universal  obedience  to  the  Constitution  ?  The 
storms  of  ninety  years  undermined  them,  and  the 
shock  of  a  civil  war  completed  their  ruin.  It  would 
have  been  little  had  the  Constitution  been  altered  in 
accordance  with  the  prescribed  forms,  for  then  all  the 
people  would  have  been  parties  to  it,  and  the  new 
law  would  have  had  indisputable  sanction.  But  it 
has  been  seized  by  one  side  as  an  instrument  of  party 
warfare,  and  the  other  side  is  denied  the  privileges 
whicli  it  guaranteed  to  all.  Unless  this  course  be 
changed,  the  government  will  pass  wholly  into  the 
hands  of  unscrupulous  partisans,  and  even  the 
moral  influence  of  men  of  independent  character  will 
be  lost.  The  great  scholars  of  the  country  will  be 
disposed  to  abandon  the  very  discussion  of  politics  in 
despair.  At  this  time  we  find  that  they  have  some 
hope.  Already  some  of  the  foremost  men  are 
earnestly  calling  attention  to  the  progress  the  nation 
is  making  towards  a  rule  of  anarchists.  Mr.  Curtis, 
the  historian  of  the  Constitution,  thus  appeals  to  his 
countrymen  in  a  contemporary  journal  :  a  —  "  A  great 
change  has  come  over  us.  From  being  a  people 
whose  regard  for  law  was  proverbial,  and  whose 
standard  of  right  and  wrong  in  political  action 
invariably  and  instinctively  referred  itself  to  the 
positive  texts  of  a  written  Constitution,  we  have 
co  in  e  to  witness  with  indifference,  and  to  accept  as 


32  The  '  New  York  World.' 


274  PROSPECTS   OF   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XII, 

matters  OA  course,  methods  of  public  action  which 
can  be  justified  by  no  existing  constitutional  princi 
ples,  which  are  at  variance  with  the  conceded  nature 
of  our  institutions,  which  violate  solemn  public 
charters,  and  which  rest  upon  nothing  but  the  tem 
porary  popular  judgment  of  what  is  expedient,  or, 
more  frequently,  upon  a  passionate  popular  deter 
mination  to  effect  certain  objects  by  direct  force.  No 
thoughtful  person  can  well  deny  that  such  is  our 
present  condition.  The  most  unanswerable  appeals 
to  the  plainest  constitutional  provisions,  made  as 
impressively  as  undeniable  truth  can  make  them,  and 
made  from  quarters  which  at  any  former  period  of 
our  history  would  have  commanded  instant  and 
general  attention,  are  now  received  by  a  large  part 
of  the  people  of  this  country  with  apathy.  We  pay 
very  little  heed  to  anything  but  the  object  that  is  to 
be  accomplished.  Whether  that  object  be  lawful — 
whether,  if  it  is  lawful,  the  methods  by  which  we 
propose  to  reach  it  are  permitted  by  the  law — we 
have  almost  wholly  ceased  to  consider.  Respect  for 
the  law,  because  it  is  the  law  ;  loyal  obedience  to  its 
commands,  because  they  are  its  commands;  chival 
rous  submission  to  restraint,  because  a  lawful  autho 
rity  has  created  a  restraint,  are  not  now  among  our 
prominent  national  characteristics.  At  this  moment, 
it  cannot  be  said  that  a  majority  of  the  people  of  this 
country  are  faithful  to  the  obligations  of  fundamental 
law ;  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  one  of  the 


CHAP.  XII.        THE    PROTESTS    OF    CONSTITUTIONALISTS.  275 

chief  reasons  for  this  is,  a  general  ignorance  of  the 
sources  and  of  the  morally  binding  character  of  those 
obligations." 

In  an  equally  impressive  manner  one  of  the  prin 
cipal  Republican  Senators,  Mr.  Trumbull,  who  has 
taken  a  leading  part  in  all  measures  for  the  enfran 
chisement  and  protection  of  the  negroes,  has  lately 
warned  the  people  that  their  government  cannot  last 
without  a  fixed  permanent  law.  "The  fundamental 
law,"  he  says,  "  known  as  the  Constitution,  emanating 
directly  from  the  sovereign  people,  and  placing  on 
their  representatives  limitations  in  the  exercise  of 
power,  can  never  be  disregarded  without  endangering 
private  rights  and  the  public  liberties  of  the  people, 
as  well  as  the  existence  of  the  Union  of  which  it 
forms  the  truest  security.  ...  To  trust  represen 
tatives  with  unlimited  discretion,  or  allow  them  to 
exercise  powers  not  granted,  would  be  to  make  them 
the  masters  instead  of  the  servants  of  the  people,  and 
such  a  representative  government  would  be  little 
better  than  despotism/'  These  appeals  to  the  sober 
sense  of  the  community  may  not  be  heeded,  and  all 
the  dangers  which  are  predicted  may  be  brought 
about,  but  the  last  chance  remains  that  when  the 
present  angry  strife  is  over,  the  people  will  return 
to  their  full  allegiance  to  laws  which  are  their  truest 
protection,  and  their  security  for  coming  times. 

This  review  of  the  changes  of  eighty  years,  and 
the  prospects  now  before  the  Union,  cannot  be  closed 

T  2 


276  PKOSPECTS  or  THE  UNION.  CHAP.  xu. 

without  a  reference  to  one  other  subject.  The  ex 
istence  of  a  large  national  debt  is  sometimes  regarded 
as  one  of  the  perils  of  the  Union,  but,  if  wisely 
managed,  it  might  prove  an  element  of  strength. 
It  is  essentially  the  debt  of  the  people.  They  not 
only  approved  the  war,  but  made  it,  and  invited 
the  Federal  government,  as  well  as  the  govern 
ments  of  their  States,  to  raise  any  amount  of  re 
venue  they  required  by  means  of  taxation.  To  pay 
this  debt  is  a  point  of  honour  with  the  Americans, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  they  will  ever 
seek  to  repudiate  the  obligation.  But  the  gross  mis 
management  of  the  debt,  and  the  heavy  pressure  of 
taxation,  may  encourage  a  certain  section  of  poli 
ticians  to  evade  that  obligation.  Thus,  an  argument 
has  been  addressed  to  the  people  by  ex-Generai  Butler, 
to  the  effect  that  the  interest  on  that  important  part 
of  the  national  securities,  known  as  the  five-twenties, 
ought  to  be  paid  in  currency  and  not  in  gold. 
Technically,  Mr.  Butler  may  be  right.  The  five- 
twenty  bonds,  of  subsequent  issues,  to  August  1861, 
did  not  expressly  promise  to  pay  the  interest  in  "  coin." 
But  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  people  sub 
scribed  for  them  on  the  faith  that  both  principal  and 
interest  would  be  paid  in  coin,  and  this  view  is 
supported  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  His 
decision  may  help  to  re-inspire  public  confidence  in 
the  debt,  but  the  fact  that  it  is  constantly  open  to  the 
suggestion  of  repudiation,  in  one  form  or  other,  is  a 


CHAP.  XIL  REPUDIATION    AND    THE   DEBT.  277 

great  misfortune  to  the  people.  They  are  obliged  to 
pay  a  much  higher  rate  of  interest  than  would  other 
wise  be  required  of  them  in  the  market,  and  their 
natural  credit  is  constantly  questioned,  while  they  are 
making  vast  sacrifices  to  support  it.  And,  plainly, 
this  is  one  effect  of  popular  government.  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  voters  in  the  United  States  do  not 
hold  bonds,  and  know  nothing  more  about  the  deb* 
than  that  they  are  taxed  on  account  of  it.  Their 
votes  are  as  valuable  as  the  votes  of  any  other  class. 
If  they  are  to  be  caught  by '  whispers  of  repudiation, 
these  whispers  will  not  be  wanting.  There  is  no 
voter  without  his  mouthpiece.  No  doubt  the  bulk 
of  the  people  are  animated  by  sincere  intentions 
with  regard  to  their  debt,  and  their  anger  at  the 
merest  suggestion  from  abroad  that  they  will  not 
pay  it,  may  be  accepted  as  a  sign  of  their  good 
faith.  But  they  cannot  stop  the  mouths  of  dema 
gogues.  They  suffer,  because  there  is  a  class  among 
them,  equal  with  themselves  at  the  polls,  who  care 
much  for  their  immediate  personal  interests,  and 
little  for  the  interests  of  their  country,  and  who  are 
not  at  all  eager  to  pay  the  debt."  Thus,  the  bonds  are 
low,  and  the  United  States  seem  never  likely  to  be 
relieved  from  the  burden  of  interest  at  six  per  cent. 
The  hopes  of  some  are  supported  by  the  fallacious 
promises  of  early  liquidation.  Various  expedients 
for  this  process  have  been  laid  before  the  public.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his  report  for  1864-5, 


278  PROSPECTS    OF    THE    UNION.  CHAP.  XII 

proposed  to  raise  two  hundred  millions  a  year,  by 
taxation,  over  and  above  the  sums  required  for  the 
current  expenses  of  the  government.  This,  he  said, 
would  extinguish  the  debt  in  from  twenty-eight  to 
thirty-two  years,  according  to  the  rate  of  interest. 
But  his  scheme  passes  all  the  ordinary  bounds  even 
of  American  patience.  Can  it  be  for  a  moment 
supposed  that  the  country  would  endure  the  addi 
tional  taxation  which  the  Secretary  suggests  ?  The 
excitement  of  war  led  the  people  to  pay  taxes 
almost  without  noticing"  the  amount,  but  now  they 
are  sitting  down  with  cooled  blood  to  weigh  the 
cost.  They  could  not  support  these  fresh  demands, 
even  if  they  were  willing  to  comply  with  them.  As 
one  of  their  writers  remarks,  Mr.  M'Culloch's  plan 
"ignores  all  natural  laws  of  commerce,  and,  while 
it  proposes  to  draw  heavily  and  continually  on  the 
resources  of  the  country,  it  does  not  consider  how 
those  resources  will  be  affected  -by  the  process.  It 
would  not  only,"  he  contends,  "put  an  end  to  the 
debt  but  to  commerce  also." 

It  is  little  less  than  a  marvel  that  commerce 
flourishes  at  all  in  the  United  States.  It  is  hampered 
by  a  thousand  artificial  appliances  for  checking  its 
growth.  The  system  of  taxation  is  now  perceived  to 
be  not  only  extravagant  and  oppressive,  but  ruinous 
to  trade,  in  consequence  of  the  repetition  of  the 
taxes  in  successive  processes  of  production,  and 
similar  blunders.  The  special  commissioner  ap- 


'.XII.  MANAGEMENT    OF    THE   DEBT.  279 

pointed  by  the  United  States  Government  to  inquire 
into  the  taxation  and  revenue,  stated  that  "  if  the 
ratio  of  taxation  in  Great  Britain  had  been  in  1866 
the  same  as  that  now  maintained  in  the  United 
States,  the  amount  derived  from  taxation  in  that 
country  would  have  been  1,424,184,840  dollars  in 
place  of  354,131, 000."  B 

The  debt  is  managed  without  any  regard  to  the 
interests  of  the  people,  or  even  to  the  ultimate  profit 
of  the  exchequer.  It  is  so  confused  and  intricate 
that  no  one  professes  thoroughly  to  understand  it. 
It  offers  six  different  rates  of  interest,  and  its  bonds 
have  nineteen  different  periods  of  maturity.  There 
are  no  less  than  twelve  different  kinds  of  bonds 
carrying  six  per  cent.,  issued  under  the  authority  of 
as  many  Acts  of  Congress.  "  Our  public  debt,"  says 
a  recent  writer,  "is  in  such  a  state  of  confusion  as 
to  be  entirely  out  of  reach  of  the  popular  under 
standing,  and  correspondingly  out  of  the  popular 
confidence.  Every  contingency  is  turned  into  a 
trick  of  speculation.  Rates,  maturities,  and  liabili- 

33  •  Report  of  Mr.  David  A.  Wells,'  p.  43.  The  following  statistical 
foots  are  given  by  this  gentleman  : — 

"  The  revenue  derived  from  taxation  in  the  United  States  in  1866 
was  561,572,266  dollars;  and  the  value  of  real  and  personal  pro 
perty,  according  to  the  census  of  1860,  14,282,720,088  dollars.  The 
amount  of  revenue  derived  in  Great  Britain  from  vai  ious  forms  of 
taxation  in  1864-65,  excluding  the  receipts  from  crown  lands,  post- 
office,  &e.,  was  354,131,000  dollars;  the  value  of  real  arid  personal 
property,  according  to  the  census  of  1861,  being  31,512,000,000  dollars, 
the  estimated  increase  of  three  per  cent,  per  annum,  or  fifteen  per 
cent.,  advancing  the  value  in  1866  to  36,238,800,000  dollars. 


280  PROSPECTS    OF    THE   UNION.  CHAP  X1L 

ties,  are  mixed  together  at  every  point,  and  it  is  not 
in  the  ability,  if  it  were  the  interest,  of  dealers  to 
Explain  them."  M  In  addition  to  the  Federal  debt  of 
over  two  thousand  six  hundred  millions,  there  are 
the  State  debts,  which  make  the  burden  on  the 
American  citizen  very  little  less  in  amount  than 
that  which  is  borne  by  the  British  subject,  while  the 
mode  of  levying  taxes  is  immensely  more  vexatious 
in  America  than  in  England.35 

The  commercial  policy  of  the  nation  is  equally 
unfavourable  to  the  interests  of  the  people.  It  is  cal 
culated  that  the  American  labourer  pays  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty-three  per  cent  of  his  average  earnings 
in  direct  taxation.36  The  policy  of  protection  and  pro 
hibitory  tariffs,  which  the  Republican  party  has  made 
its  own,  is  the  only  really  serious  clog  which  exists 
to  the  national  progress.  New  England,  the  strong 
hold  of  protection,  has  suffered  in  some  parts  from 
its  effects.37  The  manufactures  which  have  flourished 


3*  See  a  little  work  on  '  The  Public  Debt  of  the  United  States/ 
by  J.  S.  Gibbons  (New  York,  1867),  p.  39. 

35  The  'New  Englander,'  for  August,  1867,  estimates  that  tho 
American  citizen's  share  of  the  entire  public  debt  is  "within  359  . 
dollars  of  the  per  capita  of  the  more  favoured  British  subject."    The 

'  Evening  Post,'  of  July  19th,  1867,  complains  that  in  the  United 
States  about  sixteen  thousand  articles  are  taxed.  Mr.  Cox,  an  ex- 
member  of  Congress,  recently  told  the  people  of  Ohio  that  in 
America  the  working  man  is  taxed  higher  per  head  than  in  any 
other  country  in  the  world. 

36  '  Evening  Post,'  24th  July,  1867. 

37  See  a  pamphlet  on  '  The  Collection  of  the  Revenue,'  by  Edward 
Atkinson  (Boston,  1867;,  p.  37. 


CHAP.  XII.  THE    MISCHIEFS    OF    PROTECTION.  281 

most  in  the  United  States — such  as  machinery, 
agricultural  implements,  and  tools — are  those  which 
have  never  been  protected  at  all.38  Production  has 
been  limited  to  an  extent  which  alarms  some  of  the 
Republicans  themselves.39  The  foreign  trade  of  the 
country  has  declined  with  incredible  rapidity.  In 
1853  the  amount  of  American  tonnage  engaged  in 
foreign  trade  was  about  fifteen  per  cent,  in  excess 
of  that  of  Great  Britain ;  at  the  beginning  of  1867 
it  was  more  than  thirty-three  per  cent.  less.  The 
decrease  was  thus  nearly  fifty  per  cent.  The  decline 
in  the  coastwise  and  inland  trade  has  been  about 
twelve  per  cent.  Shipbuilding  has  been  almost 
wholly  transferred  to  the  British  Provinces.  "  Our 
finances,"  remarks  a  competent  writer  in  an  American 
journal,  "  have  been  managed  in  ignorance  or  in  de 
fiance  of  fundamental  law.  There  is  a  universal 
torpor  creeping  over  the  industrial  energies  of  the 


38  See  a  pamphlet  on  •  The  Collection  of  the  Kevenue,'  by  Edward 
Atkinson  (Boston,  1867),  p.  37. 

39  "  Mr.  Atkinson  obtained  some  statistics  from  Deputy-Commis 
sioner  Harland  touching  the  number  of  persons  in  the  United  States 
paying  income-tax,  or,  in  other  words,  having  an  income  of  over  six 
hundred  dollars  a  year,  in  1866 ;  from  which  it  appears  that  not  over 
half  a  million  out  of  a  population  of  thirty-six  millions  have  more 
than  enough  to  support  a  family  in  the  plainest  way ;  of  course,  of 
these  a  large  number  must  find  it  difficult  to  make  ends  meet  at  all. 
As  long  as  America,  although  the  richest  country  in  the  world,  and 
that  which  presents  fewest  inequalities  of  fortune,  has  this  story  to 
tell,  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  it  dots  not  need  to  produce  more 
rapidly,  or  in  greater  abundance,," — '  North  American  Review,'  July, 
1867,  pp.  210,211. 


282  PROSPECTS   OF    THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XIL 

nation.  Manufactures  are  being  rooted  out,  every 
department  of  trade  and  industry  is  languishing,  the 
public  revenues  are  being  destroyed,  and  a  huge 
debt  accumulating  abroad."  So  dear  are  all  the 
necessities  of  life  that  the  labouring  man  who  emi 
grates  to  the  United  States  scarcely  ever  improves 
his  position,  unless  he  has  been  unable  to  find  regular 
employment  in  his  own  land.40  When  the  Federal 
government  required  only  60,000,000  of  dollars 
a  year,  and  obtained  it  chiefly  by  customs  and  land 
sales,  the  deductions  from  the  earnings  of  the  working 
man  were  inconsiderable.  But  now  the  central 
government  raises  over  500,000,000  by  customs  and 
internal  revenue  alone,  and  taxation,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  very  little  lower  than  it  is  in  England,  while 
every  article  required  for  the  household  or  the 
person  is  immensely  dearer. 

It  would  be  idle  to  suppose  that  these  circum 
stances  will  not  have  any  effect  upon  the  future  of 
the  country ;  possibly  they  may  be  henceforth  a 
fruitful  source  of  bickering  and  strife  between  the 
various  States  whose  interests  are  most  injuriously 
affected.  But  the  national  debt  was  contracted  for 
an  object  of  which  all  approved,  and  all  will  aid  in 
honourably  discharging  it.  The  poorest  native-born 
American  in  the  country  would  not  willingly  attach 


40  "  The  industrial  classes  have  been  growing  worse  off,  able  to  pur 
chase  less,  and  to  btive  less ;  this  poverty  re-acts  on  both  traders  and 
manufacturers. ' — '  American  Annual  Cyclopaedia,'  1866. 


CHAP  X1L  ELASTICITY    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  283 

> 

to  the  national  name  the  everlasting  stigma  of 
repudiating  liabilities  which  were  incurred  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Republic.  If  the  day  should 
arrive  when  their  legislation  is  conducted  by  men  of 
character  and  principle,  their  eyes  will  be  opened 
to  many  of  their  present  mistakes  and  delusions 
on  questions  of  political  economy.  At  present  the 
people  are  saved  from  serious  commercial  troubles 
chiefly  by  their  boundless  confidence  in  themselves, 
and  by  their  elastic  temperament.  They  recover 
so  soon  from  a  blow  that  they  never  seem  to  feel  it. 
Their  business  men  marvel  at  the  recurrent  "  panics  " 
which  are  so  common  in  England,  and  are  accus 
tomed  to  say  that  the  English  merchants  are  losing 
their  ancient  courage.  A  banker  once  remarked  to 
me,  "  If  any  people  in  the  world  are  fairly  entitled  to 
a  financial  panic  once  a  week,  we  certainly  are  that 
people.  But  we  do  not  have  it,  because  we  know 
that  we  shall  pull  through."  While  they  have  this 
faith,  they  will  be  able  to  conquer  their  difficulties, 
or  at  least  to  meet  them  with  spirit 

There  are  no  dangers  from  without  to  threaten 
the  Union,  but  it  may  be  justly  questioned  whether 
the  present  generation  have  been  so  careful  as  their 
forefathers  tried  to  be  of  the  securities  within.  The 
<-ra  of  general  agreement,  and  deep-seated  satisfaction 
with  the  government,  is  more  remote  than  it  was  in 
the  days  when  the  founders  of  the  Constitution  com 
mitted  it  with  affectionate  solicitude  to  the  care  of 


284  PROSPECTS   OF   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  XII 

their  posterity.  It  has  been  shown  in  the  foregoing 
pages,  and  the  proofs  might  have  been  multiplied 
indefinitely,  that  a  great  minority  of  the  people  chafe 
and  fret  under  the  yoke  of  a  government  which,  in 
theory,  affords  perfect  freedom  and  satisfaction  to  all. 
It  is  still  common  to  find  Americans  writing  of  their 
country  in  terms  like  these : — "  The  career  of  the 
Republic  has  thus  far  consisted  of  two  steps.  It 
first  became,  in  practice,  a  pure  democracy,  and  then 
an  oligarchy  of  demagogues ;  the  worst  of  all  pos 
sible  forms  of  misgovernment." 41  But,  in  additioft 
to  this  kind  of  dissatisfaction,  there  are  numberless 
Americans  who  have  no  sympathy  with  the  wishes 
or  designs  of  that  ckss  of  their  countrymen  who 
maintain  that  the  democratic  theory  can  never  be 
carried  too  far.  They  are  far  from  believing  that 
an  unchecked  democracy  is  the  best  and  soundest 
form  of  government.  They  would  place  some  limit 
upon  the  exercise  of  the  franchise,  and  they  insist 
upon  the  inexpediency  of  allowing  incapable  and 
inexperienced  persons  to  vote.  Bat  what  present 
hope  is  there  for  men  who  hold  these  opinions? 
The  course  of  national  "  levelling  "  is  swift  and  irre 
sistible,  and  what  is  once  yielded  to  clamour  can 
never  be  withdrawn.  Only  in  countries  where  a  rule 
of  Democracy  has  never  been  tried  is  it  praised  and 
coveted.  The  American  is  as  much  attached  to  class 


Southern  Review,'  vol.  i.  p.  350.     (Baltimore,  1867). 


CHAP.  XII.        CONSERVATISM    OF    AMERICAN    OPINION.  285 

distinctions  as  the  citizen  of  any  other  country.  He 
does  not  opnsort  by  preference  with  those  beneath 
him  in  station.  He  does  not  ask  the  ignorant  to  sit 
by  his  fireside,  and  he  would  not  allow  them  to 
neutralise  his  influence  in  political  life  if  he  could 
avoid  it.  But  he  knows  that  one  of  the  results 
of  eighty  years'  trial  of  republican  institutions  is 
the  transfer  of  power  from  men  of  the  character  of 
Washington  to  men  of  the  character  of  Butler  and 
Thaddeus  Stevens  ;  and  this  has  been  effected  by 
the  agency  of  the  needy  and  illiterate  orders.  The 
great  men  of  his  country  who  have  passed  away  were 
not  those  who  filled  the  highest  post  in  the  govern 
ment.  Daniel  Webster  and  Henry  Clay  were  men 
too  greatly  gifted  to  be  taken  up  by  party  intriguists, 
and  supported  by  the  numerous  classes.  The  Ameri 
cans  do  not  pride  themselves  upon  a  democratic 
government,  except  when  they  are  sometimes  writing 
or  speaking  for  foreign  readers.  They  wished  to 
keep  many  things  which  they  have  lost,  but  the  tide 
of  popular  will  quietly  defied  their  control.  We  find 
American  writers  dwelling  upon  the  "  dangers  of 
democracy  "  with  an  earnestness  which  ought  to  con 
vince  theorists  elsewhere  that  there  is,  after  all,  some 
danger  in  intrusting  the  larger  share  of  political 
power  to  the  least  educated  classes.  In  America 
the  truth  has  long  been  admitted  that  Democracy  is 
insatiable.  Its  demands  increase  in  volume  and 
vehemence  with  every  attempt  to  set  them  at  rest 


286  PROSPECTS    OF   TIIE   UNION.  CHAP.  XU 

In  such  a  system,  everything  worth  keeping  by  a 
community  is  dependent  solely  upon  the  self-restraint 
of  that  class  which  is  under  the  least  temptation  to 
practice  self-restraint.  In  times  of  tumult  and  agi 
tation,  the  sober  and  correcting  influence  of  ex 
perience  and  education  is  likely  to  be  of  benefit; 
but  there  are  no  means  of  bringing  this  influence 
into  operation,  unless  the  people  themselves  desire  it. 
How  often  will  they  be  willing  to  call  in  outer  aid 
to  restrain  themselves  ?  The  moving  forces  of  any 
community  which  once  makes  an  approach  to  demo 
cracy  must  ever  impel  it  towards  great  organic 
change.  The  nature  of  man  is  to  be  dissatisfied 
with  that  which  he  has.  Whatever  may  be  his 
condition,  his  instincts  suggest  to  him  that  in  some 
other  condition  he  would  be  better  off.  Individuals 
seek  for  change,  and  nations  thirst  for  it  with  a  rest 
less  longing.  When  they  are  made  aware  that  they 
can  alter  any  part  of  their  government  at  pleasure, 
permanence  of  construction  is  out  of  the  question.  As 
time  passes  on,  the  people  of  America  will  be  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  that  a  finished  system 
of  government  is  only  to  be  arrived  at,  if  mankind  is 
ever  destined  to  enjoy  the  blessing  at  all,  after  many 
failures,  and  by  the  exercise  of  forbearance  and  wisdom 
on  a  more  general  scale  than  has  hitherto  been  com 
mon  in  the  world.  Every  system  promises  perfec 
tion  until  it  is  put  into  action,  and  it  is  only  in  rare 
cases  that  those  who  watch  its  working  agree  tc 


Our.  XII.    AMERICA  AND  THE  ENGLISH  WORKING  CLASSES.      287 

shut  their  eyes  to  its  inadequateness.  In  America 
a  habit  so  fatal  to  the  hope  of  improvement  is  fast 
disappearing.  Americans  care  less  for  foreign  criti 
cism  than  ever  they  did,  because  they  respect  them 
selves  more,  and  because  they  know  their  own 
strength.  Their  history  is  but  now  beginning,  and 
their  national  character  exhibits  many  unexpected 
modifications.  Their  former  misjudged  admiration 
for  everything  American,  in  political  theory,  has 
been  transferred  to  a  school  of  politicians  in  Europe, 
who  have  special  purposes  to  serve  in  producing  social 
disturbances,  and  who.  blindly  praise  what  they  have 
never  seen,  and  ignorantly  admire  what  they  do  not 
understand.  By  political  men  of  a  nobler  type,  no 
object  ought  to  be  sought  after  more  earnestly  than 
that  of  making  the  working  men  of  these  islands 
familiar  with  every  detail  of  the  American  Govern 
ment  as  it  actually  exists.  The  whole  truth  ought 
to  be  laid  before  them,  stripped  of  the  disguises  of 
the  doctrinaire,  or  the  narrow  and  bigoted  conceit 
of  the  spurious  philosopher.  Let  the  English  work 
ing  men  see  and  understand  the  American  Govern 
ment  as  the  men  who  are  engaged  in  its  administration 
see  it,  and  they  will  soon  be  jealous  of  changes  in 
their  own.  They  will  learn  to  prize  a  civil  system 
which  is  essentially  what  the  intelligence  and  spirit 
of  the  whole  people,  and  not  of  any  class,  have  made 
it,  which  has  awakened  from  time  to  time  the  admira 
tion  01  tne  world,  and  which  is  at  tins  nour  more 


288  PROSPECTS    OF   THE   UNION.  CHAP.  X1L 

just  and  fair  in  its  method  of  working  than  any  other 
polity  known  to  mankind.  The  future  of  England 
may  not  be  so  full  of  freshness  and  promise  as  that 
of  America,  but  we  have  won  an  immortal  past,  and 
we  still  have  much  in  our  laws  which  Americans 
desire,  and  hitherto  have  desired  in  vain.  That  they 
may  succeed  in  building  up  a  government  which  will 
secure  to  them  for  all  time  to  come  the  enjoyment  of 
constitutional  freedom,  must  be  the  hope  of  us  all ; 
and  their  efforts  to  consummate  this  glorious  work 
ought  not  to  be  retarded  by  the  undiscriminating 
adulation  of  men  who  invent  wrongs  for  others  in 
order  that  they  may  obtain  influence  of  which  they 
are  unworthy,  and  use  it  afterwards  to  the  disad 
vantage  of  an  ancient  Kingdom  which  has  been 
assailed  by  many  demagogues,  and  hitherto  survived 
them  all. 


THE   END. 


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British  Historians,  Lives  of  .         .        .         .        2       I2mo 

LIBER  LIBRORUM   ;.  -.j^.-..  .Y      .      .       i      i6mo 

LORD,  JOHN,  LL.D. 
OLD  ROMAN  WORLD    .        .        .        .  '     »       i  crown  8vo  3  oo 

LYNCH,  LIEUT.  W.  F. 

Naval  Life    1~::: I        I2mo       I  50 

McLEOD,  ALEX.,  D.D. 

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MACDONALD,  J.  M.,  D.D. 

My  Father's  House I        I2mo       I  50 

MACLEOD,  DONALD, 

Works  of 3       I2moea.i  25 

MAGOON,  REV.  E.  L. 

Living  Orators  in  America  I        I2mo       I 

Orators  of  the  American  Revolution     .  I        I2mo 


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60 
61 
62 

63 
63 
63 


65 

^ 
64 

64 
65 
69 


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3  50 
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75 


69 

70 

70 

71 

114 

72 


6        Charles   Scribner  &  Go's  Condensed  Catalogue. 


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Ancient  Law      ..  »:  /'. I  crown  8vo  $3  oo        73 

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English  Language,  Ledlures  on     .        .        .         i  crown  8vo  3  oo        74 

Origin  and  History  of      .         I  crown  8vo  3  oo        74 

Man  and  Nature I   crown  8vo  3  oo         75 

MARSH,  J.,  D.D. 

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MITCHELL,  DONALD  G  (!K  MARVEL). 

Dream  Life  ...  i       I2mo  $i  75  77 

Dr.  Johns:  A  Novel    .  ...  2        I2mo  3  50  79 

Fresh  Gleanings    .  ...  I2mo      78 

Lorgnette,  The      .  . »     .  I2mo      78 

My  Farm  of  Edgewood  .         .         .  I2mo  75  79 

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Planetary  and  Stellar  Worlds        ,.<:•:,<   4 .  I2mo  75         81 

Popular  Astronomy       .         .         .        .;     'v^  I2mo  75         81 

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Poetical  Works  (blue  and  gold)     .        . '    ' '  ;        I       i6mo       i  50        83 

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ORLEANS,  DUCHESS  OF. 

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Commentaries  on  the  New  Testament :  Mat 
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ILLUSTRATED  GIFT-BOOKS. 


#*#  In  this  list  the  prices  of  the  respective  works  as  bound  in  cloth,  full  gilt, 
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FRED  AND  MARIA  AND  ME  .  $i  50  121 
Folk  Songs  .  .  .  15  oo  115 

MY  FARM  OF  EDGEWOOD  .  10  oo  121 
Pilgrim's  Progress  .  .  .  5  oo  120 
QUEENS  OF  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  600  n8 


/Esop's  FABLES    . 
Bitter- Sweet         .        . 
Book  of  Rubies    . 
Christian  Armor    . 
Cotter's  Saturday  Night 
FLORAL  BELLES 


$18  oo  117 

9  oo  117 

7  oo  119 

15  00  120 

5  oo  119 

25  oo  116 


SER     5   1932 


REC'D  U 


JUL 


76 


YB  08204 


